When the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) meets at the end of this month (October 28 – 30, 2014), the board is expected to review a long list of non-organic and synthetic ingredients that have been allowed in organic, but should be removed.
It’s always been an uphill battle to keep non-organic and synthetic materials out of organic. But last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP) made it even more difficult, when NOP Director Miles McEvoy changed something called the “sunset process.”
"Sunset" refers to a requirement of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), that the use of an approved non-organic or synthetic material expire after five years, unless the NOSB votes to "re-list" (keep the material on the National List of Approved and Prohibited Substances) it.
Under the sunset process in place since the first NOSB convened in 1992, it took a decisive vote of 10 out of the NOSB's board’s 15 members to keep a non-organic or synthetic material in organic.
Under the changes made by McEvoy, it now takes only six out of 15 NOSB members to keep a non-organic or synthetic material in organic. This violates OFPA's requirement for a two-thirds vote on all motions
So how do we hope to make any progress at this year’s meeting, toward getting non-organic and synthetic materials that don’t belong in organic, out of organic?
The NOSB could still make an end run around McEvoy’s power grab. By refusing to vote. NOSB review is required under the OPFA, if the NOSB won’t review or vote on a “sunset material” that material can’t get back on the National List.