John R. Block, U.S. secretary of agriculture from 1981 to 1986, knows a thing or two about food. And he doesn't like the "black marketing" being done by the organic industry to imply nonexistent benefits and also traditional food harm. Proponents are basically selling food homeopathy.
But it's a $35 billion a year business so their marketing machine is clearly doing something right.
Like most of us, Block is a fan of food - the 'you are with us or against us' mentality was wholly created by organic marketing, and they do lots of other questionable behavior - namely doing the exact things environmentalists claim to dislike about Big Oil and global warming. Organic marketing spends tens of millions of dollars to make sure Environmental Working Group and other anti-science organizations stay on message
“Let me be clear about one thing,” said Dan Glickman,
USDA Secretary
from 1995 until 2001 after being a Democrat in Congress for 18 years, when organic certification was being considered. “The organic label is a marketing tool. It is not a statement about food safety. Nor is ‘organic’ a value judgment about nutrition or quality.”
Imagine that; there was a time when a Democrat was critical of organic food. What about now? Democrats in Congress have been trying to get federal warning labels for GMOs put in place. Good luck getting elected with your pro-science stance today, Dan.
