25
Nov
National Goal of Universal Organic Land Management Advocated, While Organic Food in Schools Welcomed
(Beyond Pesticides, November 25, 2024) When the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced at the end of October a $15 million program to expand access to organic dairy products in schools, it added funds to an agency effort underway that is intended to support and incentivize farmers to grow organic and make organic food more widely available. While the millions being invested is a fraction of what organic advocates say is necessary, Congress and USDA have established a framework that recognizes the need to address the current health, biodiversity, and climate crises with accelerated adoption of organic. The issue now is whether organic will garner the support necessary to meet the life-sustaining challenges in the next Farm Bill, which may not be taken up until the next Congress is sworn in and the new administration is inaugurated.
The U.S commitment to organic has been building since the adoption of the Agricultural Productivity Act in 1983 Agricultural Productivity Act and the establishment of the Low Input Sustainable Agriculture program (later becoming Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program) at USDA and then the passage of the Organic Foods Production Act in 1990. However, among the articles published on the subject, research reported in Environmental Science & Technology (2022) asserts that use of synthetic chemicals are now exceeding planetary boundary, “the point at which human-made changes to the Earth push it outside the stable environment of the last 10,000 years.“ In this context, the universal adoption of organic practices has become an urgent necessity, with Congressional, administration, and private sector support at the highest level.
In its brochure Making the Transition to Organic Production and Handling, USDA states the following:
“Organic agriculture uses cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that support the cycling of on-farm resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Conservation practices are typically bundled into a conservation system to maintain or enhance soil and water quality as well as conserve wetlands, grasslands, forests, and wildlife habitat. Avoiding the use of synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering are paramount to organic farming.”
USDA has identified organic agriculture as climate smart, recognizing that organic soil management practices sequester atmospheric carbon while eliminating the need for synthetic nitrogen fertilizers that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Beyond this, USDA describes what it has been doing to support the growth of organic as a niche market, without the goals necessary to eliminate petrochemical pesticide and fertilizer use and production:
“USDA has made significant investments in organic agriculture, including through its Organic Transition Initiative (OTI), a $300 million investment that delivers wrap-around technical assistance to producers interested in transitioning to organic. The initiative includes mentoring and advice, direct farmer assistance through conservation financial assistance, and targeted organic market development grants. Among OTI’s comprehensive suite of programs is the Organic Market Development Grant (OMDG) program which has, with the final awards announced in August, provided $85 million for 107 projects around the country. OMDG is supporting the development of new and existing organic markets to increase the consumption of domestic organic agricultural products. Another component, the Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP), is supporting farmers transitioning to organic by connecting them with mentors, providing community building, technical assistance, workforce development, and helping producers overcome challenges during and following certification. Additionally, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) supports conservation practices required for organic certification and leverages partnerships to expand relationships within the organic community. NRCS and its partners offer field days, workshops, and one-on-one technical assistance to producers working to meet organic standards. OTI is a part of the USDA food system transformation initiative to support local and regional food systems, expand access to markets for more producers, and increase the affordable food supply for more Americans while promoting climate-smart agriculture and ensuring equity for all producers.”
The steps being taken are important, but do not match the threat, according to Beyond Pesticides. Small and important steps, as welcomed as they are by advocates, are not viewed as expediting the transition to organic as a national priority.
Thank USDA for expanding access to organic dairy in schools. Tell USDA and Congress that kids deserve all-organic school lunches.
The $15 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the $17.2 billion that USDA spent on the school lunch program in 2023 to provide low-cost or free lunches to children in public and nonprofit private schools (grades pre-kindergarten–12) and residential childcare institutions. However, any support for organic food in schools leads to greater health for growing minds and bodies, and schools should be serving our nation’s children meals that are wholly supportive of human and planetary health.
There are serious long-term health implications for children and youth exposed to the toxic soup of pesticide and chemical residues found in food grown in chemical-intensive practices. Research published in Environmental Pollution in 2022 identified children with higher levels of certain pesticide metabolites are more likely to go through early puberty. The American Academy of Pediatrics concludes in a study published this year that the proliferation of antimicrobial-resistant infections, resulting from overreliance on antibiotics in animal agriculture leads to potentially severe health risks for infants and children. Additionally, a 2024 study, published in Environment International finds 60 biomarkers of pollutants and pesticides in hair analyses of children throughout France, which highlights the global crisis resulting from the inadequate regulation of toxic chemicals. Despite the known health impacts of pesticide exposure, Congress may end up removing 200-foot pesticide spray “buffer zones” around 4,028 U.S. elementary schools contiguous to crop fields depending on how Farm Bill negotiations move forward, according to an analysis by Environmental Working Group.
There are additional associated benefits for children who consume organic food. Sticking to an organic diet has reduced toxic pesticide residues in the bodies of U.S. children and adults, based on several studies published in 2019 in Environmental Health, and in two 2015 studies published in Environmental Health Perspectives and by the Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health. A particularly noteworthy study published in 2014 in Environmental Research found that organophosphate pesticide metabolites in the urine of adults were reduced after just a week-long organic diet. A 2019 study published in Environmental Health, led by Barcelona Institute for Global Health, found that organic food consumption among children is directly associated with higher test scores, after measuring for fluid intelligence and working memory. Conversely, lower scores on fluid intelligence tests are associated with, among other factors, children’s fast-food intake.
The transition to organic food in school cafeterias is not a new policy concern. In a 2004 article published in Pesticides and You, School Lunches Go Organic: Science supports growing movement, numerous examples across the nation demonstrate a pathway forward for broader adoption of organic mandates. “Stonyfield Farm has sponsored organic programs at schools in Rhode Island, California, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire and Connecticut,” according to the article. Additionally, the authors wrote, “An organic salad bar started at Lincoln Elementary School in Olympia, Washington has proven so popular and economically feasible, all grade schools in Olympia now have one. California school districts in Berkeley, Santa Monica, and Palo Alto also have organic food programs. In 2004, the Seattle school district adopted H61.01, Breakfast and Lunch Program Procedure, a policy banning junk food and encouraging organic food in school cafeterias.” More recently, Beyond Pesticides called for requiring organic school lunches in order to eliminate obesogenic pesticide residues.
In September, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced S. 5084, Safe School Meals Act (SSMA), identifying four objectives:
- Directing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to set safe limits for heavy metals in school meals. The limits will be based on a threshold of reasonable certainty of no harm to school-age children from aggregate exposure. If the agencies fail to set these limits within two years, the limits will automatically be set to non-detectable until the agencies can determine a safe level of exposure.
- Banning glyphosate, paraquat, and organophosphate pesticide residues in school meals. Certified organic farms would automatically meet this requirement.
- Banning PFAS, phthalates, lead, and bisphenols in food packaging in school meals.
- Directing FDA to reevaluate food additives with known carcinogenic, reproductive, or developmental health harms, such as artificial food dyes, and ban their use in school meals prior to the completion of FDA’s analysis.
According to Senator Booker, “School meals should be a child’s safest source of nourishment, not another source of toxic exposure.” Although S. 5084 does not require organic school meals, the only way for a school to meet these objectives without bearing a large expense for testing is to buy organic food. Unfortunately, as pointed out by Kate Mendenhall, executive director of Organic Farmers Association, “Most organic and small farms have not traditionally had access to school food purchasing programs.” S. 5084 will provide a strong incentive for schools to buy organic food for school lunches and thus, according to Ms. Mendenhall, will “open new markets for organic foods and help make organic certification affordable for small farmers.”
The Food Quality Protection Act, passed in 1996 as an amendment to the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), requires regulation of endocrine-disrupting impacts of pesticides. Almost two decades later, EPA has failed to regulate endocrine-disrupting pesticides.
The review process in S. 5084 would mandate that at least every five years the Commissioner of Food and Drugs must “determine potential adjustments to the maximum permissible levels of heavy metals and toxic metalloids.” Similar provisions exist for other toxic materials that this legislation is intended to regulate. Permissible levels of toxic substances—including PFAS, heavy metals, industrial chemicals, and pesticides—are now calculated without consideration given to the cumulative impacts (or toxic burden) across all exposures. In 2020, FDA acknowledged that half of food samples tested by the agency have toxic pesticide residues and one in ten samples have levels that violate legal limits established by EPA, according to the Pesticide Residue Monitoring Report. Consumer Reports recently updated its analysis of pesticide residues in common grocery store products, finding that 20% of the foods tested pose a “high risk” to the public and 12 specific commodities are so dangerous that children or pregnant people should not eat more than one serving per day.
5084 also establishes a pathway forward for acknowledging organic food production as a public good and service by expanding funding for the Organic Cost-Share Program to fully compensate farmers for certification costs, a long-term policy goal for organic advocates across the nation. It increases the funding available for schools to purchase safe school meals. Supporters of the bill include a broad spectrum of educational, health, environmental, and organic advocates, who welcome the continued leadership of Senator Booker in pushing forward legislation that eliminates a number of toxic residues from the National School Lunch Program and the elevation of organic food production on the national stage.
Letter to Congress
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it is allocating $15 million to the Organic Dairy Product Promotion Program to expand access to organic dairy products in schools. The program will be funded by the Commodity Credit Corporation, with the goal of increasing consumption of organic dairy products among children and young adults while creating new opportunities for small and mid-sized organic dairy producers. $15 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the total of $17.2 billion that USDA’s school lunch program spent in 2023. School meals should be a child’s safest source of nourishment, not another source of toxic exposure, so they should be made up of organic food.
In September, Sen. Cory Booker introduced S. 5084, Safe School Meals Act, to:
*Direct the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to set safe limits for heavy metals in school meals, based on a threshold of reasonable certainty of no harm to school-age children from aggregate exposure. If the agencies fail to set these limits within two years, the limits will automatically be set to non-detectable until the agencies can determine a safe level of exposure.
*Ban glyphosate, paraquat, and organophosphate pesticide residues in school meals. Certified organic farms would automatically meet this requirement.
*Ban PFAS, phthalates, lead, and bisphenols in food packaging in school meals.
*Direct FDA to reevaluate food additives with known carcinogenic, reproductive, or developmental health harms, such as artificial food dyes, and ban their use in school meals prior to the completion of FDA’s analysis.
Although S. 5084 does not require organic school meals, buying organic food is a cost-effective way for schools to meet the bill’s requirements. EPA has still failed to advance the protections for children mandated by the Food Quality Protection Act, passed in 1996. In 2020, FDA acknowledged that half of food samples tested by the agency have toxic pesticide residues and one in ten samples have levels that violate legal limits. Consumer Reports recently updated its analysis of pesticide residues in various common grocery store products, finding that 20% of the foods tested pose a “high risk” to the public and 12 specific commodities are so dangerous that children or pregnant people should not eat more than one serving per day.
The serious long-term health implications for children exposed to pesticide and chemical residues found in food grown in chemical-intensive agriculture include early puberty and the proliferation of antimicrobial-resistant infections resulting from overreliance on antibiotics in animal agriculture.
Children benefit from organic food. An organic diet reduces toxic pesticide residues in the bodies of U.S. children and adults, based on several studies published in 2019 in Environmental Health, and in two 2015 studies published in Environmental Health Perspectives, and by the Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health. A study published in 2014 in Environmental Research found that organophosphate pesticide metabolites in the urine of adults declined after just a week-long organic diet. A 2019 study published in Environmental Health, led by Barcelona Institute for Global Health, found that organic food consumption among children is directly associated with higher test scores. Conversely, lower scores were associated with, among other factors, children’s fast-food intake.
- 5084 also expands funding for the Organic Cost-Share Program to fully compensate farmers for certification costs and increases the funding available for schools to purchase safe school meals. Supporters of the bill include a broad spectrum of educational, health, environmental, and organic advocates.
I urge you to support S. 5084 and to direct USDA to require organic food in school lunches it underwrites.
Thank you.
Letter to USDA
Thank you for expanding access to organic dairy products in schools by allocating $15 million to the Organic Dairy Product Promotion Program for that purpose. However, $15 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the total of $17.2 billion that USDA’s school lunch program spent in 2023. School meals should be a child’s safest source of nourishment, not another source of toxic exposure, so they should be made up of organic food.
EPA has still failed to advance the protections for children mandated by the Food Quality Protection Act, passed in 1996. In 2020, FDA acknowledged that half of food samples tested by the agency have toxic pesticide residues and one in ten samples have levels that violate legal limits established by EPA. Consumer Reports recently updated its analysis of pesticide residues in various common grocery store products, finding that 20% of the foods tested pose a “high risk” to the public and 12 specific commodities are so dangerous that children or pregnant people should not eat more than one serving per day.
The serious long-term health implications for children and youth exposed to pesticide and chemical residues found in food grown in chemical-intensive agriculture include early puberty and the proliferation of anti-microbial resistant infections resulting from overreliance on antibiotics in animal agriculture.
Children benefit from organic food. An organic diet reduces toxic pesticide residues in the bodies of U.S. children and adults, based on several studies published in 2019 in Environmental Health, and in two 2015 studies published in Environmental Health Perspectives, and by the Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health. A study published in 2014 in Environmental Research found that organophosphate pesticide metabolites in the urine of adults declined after just a week-long organic diet. A 2019 study published in Environmental Health, led by Barcelona Institute for Global Health, found that organic food consumption among children is directly associated with higher test scores. Conversely, lower scores on fluid intelligence tests were associated with, among other factors, children’s fast-food intake.
I urge you to require organic food in school lunches.
Thank you.
