001221 Glickman: Organic Standards Coming

Washington - National standards for organic food will be released soon, and they will make clear that such products aren't safer or more nutritious than conventional products, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman says.

The rules will be one of Glickman's last acts in office, as will finalizing a ban on road building in 58.5 million of the 192 million acres of national forests that he oversees.

Less certain is when his department will require nutrition labels on meat, something President Clinton (news - web sites) proposed last spring, Glickman said in an interview Wednesday.

The organic rules, which USDA was required to develop under a 1990 law, have been debated inside and outside the department throughout Glickman's nearly six years in office.

The rules, which will replace a hodgepodge of state standards for organic agriculture, will “provide some certainty for marketing these products at home and overseas,” Glickman said.

The food industry cites consumer research to support its claim that the special USDA seal that would go on the labels of organic products may lead consumers to believe that the organic products are preferable to food made with conventionally grown ingredients. The seal the department proposed this spring would include the words: “USDA Certified Organic.”

The National Food Processors Association wants the department to add a disclaimer with wording such as: “This symbol does not signify that the food is superior with respect to safety, quality, or nutrition, compared to a food that does not bear the symbol.”

Glickman didn't say how he would address the industry's concern, but said the final regulations “will be clear that these rules are not to disparage in any way any other kinds of foods.”

Katherine DiMatteo, executive director of the Organic Trade Association, said she doesn't think the USDA seal would be misleading, but doesn't think it's that important either.

“I could see USDA perhaps saying we should move away from using the emblem,” she said.

The Agriculture Department first proposed a set of national organic standards in 1997, but withdrew them after farmers and others in the $6 billion- a-year organic industry strongly objected to allowing biotech crops, irradiation and sewage sludge.

“It's only the beginning of the National Organic Program,” said DiMatteo. “There's much more work that will have to be done on the farm, in the processing facilities and in USDA to make sure there is a viable organic sector in American agriculture,” she said.

The Forest Service's proposed ban on road building has been equally controversial. Congressional critics of the plan say it will hinder firefighting efforts, but Glickman gave no indication that the Clinton administration is backing off the ban.

Clinton's plan to ban road building in 58.5 million acres of roadless national forests allows logging and road building only in rare cases, such as to protect endangered species and prevent catastrophic wildfires.

The proposed rule restricts logging, mining and road building on chunks of Forest Service land that together equal a parcel the size of Oregon.

Environmentalists say the roads disrupt wildlife, increase erosion and make it easier for timber and mining companies to reach remote forests.

“We already have over 300 miles of roads in our national forests. One of the problems is the degradation of those roads. ... There are so many of them that they can't be maintained,” Glickman said.

Glickman says he sees forest conservation as one of the most important achievements of his term at USDA. The Forest Service is the biggest single employer among the department's various agencies.

“We've made a revolutionary change in how we deal with our forests,” he said. “We've moved from a system where cutting trees was the prime focus of our forest policy to one that is balanced.”

Glickman, who was a Kansas congressman before taking over USDA in 1995, said he is still looking for a new job in either law, academia or with a nonprofit group.

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