Organic Consumers Association

The Organic Consumers Association is a organic food advocacy group. They are notable for taking an extremist stance against genetically modified food. They frequently use pseudoscience and outright lies in an attempt to demonize genetically modified foods, and bash any and all organizations who receive funding from corporations. Ironically, the OCA itself receives around $800,000 per year from corporations.[1] The association's web site also contains advertisements for a wide variety of organic products.[2] The OCA openly admits that they represent and protect the interests of "several thousand businesses in the natural foods and organic marketplace".[3]

The logo.
Potentially edible!
Food woo
Fabulous food!
Delectable diets!
Bodacious bods!
v - t - e

The Director of OCA wrote an open letter during the Prop 37 campaign to label transgenic food, revealing his intentions behind supporting labeling are not to support consumer choice, but rather to "drive genetically engineered foods off supermarket shelves" and to "move healthy, organic products from a 4.2% market niche, to the dominant force in American food and farming".[4]

When Mark Lynas[5] spoke out against the anti-GM movement, the OCA issued a newsletter claiming that Mark Lynas was paid off by biotech companies.[6] Their proof for this claim? Just asking questions and some good old conspiracy theories.

Charity Navigator gave the OCA a 2/5 star rating, mainly because of their history of history poor accountability and lack of transparency.[7]

The OCA frequently reposts articles from woo-pushers and conspiracy theorists such as Joseph Mercola, NaturalNews, and Alex Jones on subjects such as water fluoridation,[8] food irradiation,[9] 9/11 conspiracy theories[10], raw milk,[11] vaccines,[12] homeopathy,[13] nuclear power,[14] and more. Predictably, their position on all of those subjects is in line with appeals to nature and contrary to the scientific consensus. They have a long history of using fearmongering and pseudoscience to push their agenda of converting the world to organic agriculture. Anyone who disagrees with them is labeled a shill.

In yet another example of the OCA's hypocrisy, Ronnie Cummins, current director of OCA, claimed in 2002 that his strategy depends on "the fact that most consumers aren’t smart enough to know what they want".[15] However, 11 years later, the OCA posted an article saying that "Now it’s time to support those companies, large and small, that do support our right to know".[16]

Despite condemning conventional agriculture subsidies,[17] the OCA wants the US Government to allocate "billions of dollars" for organic farming subsidies.[18]

References
  1. OCA: 2011 Financial Report
  2. Scroll down the the bottom of the page
  3. OCA: About Us
  4. Open Letter to the Organic Community: The California Ballot Initiative to Label GMOs
  5. slate.com: Leading Environmental Activist’s Blunt Confession: I Was Completely Wrong To Oppose GMOs
  6. OCA: Mark Lynas: GMO Convert? Or Hired Gun?
  7. "Charity Navigator Rating - Organic Consumers Association"
  8. OCA: Portland, Oregon Votes NO on Water Fluoridation
  9. OCA: Information on Food Irradiation
  11. OCA: Raw Milk
  12. OCA: Breaking: Courts Discreetly Confirm MMR Vaccine Causes Autism
  13. OCA: Anti-Science Authority (ASA) Provokes Rebellion from Homeopaths
  14. OCA: Victory for Grassroots Activism and Public Safety: San Onofre Nuclear Plant Closure Announced
  15. Western Farm Press: Column: Get to know the anti-biotech crowd
  16. OCA: Update - Help Us Find the Top Ten 'Right-to-Know' Grocers!
  17. OCA: U.S. Cotton Subsidies: Killing Farmers & Poisoning Consumers & the Earth
  18. Quote: "To make the long overdue transition to organic agriculture--which is the only thing that can save America's family farms--the USDA must allocate billions of dollars, not a mere six million dollars as the current proposed organic regulations call for, to ensure a sustainable and equitable future."
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