Organic Consumers Association

[[File:Organic_Consumers_Association_logo.png|thumb|upright|right|Advocating for the underdog: the multi-billion-dollar chugging, humming, sputtering energy of organic industry]]{{foodnav}}
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.<ref>OCA: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130524222840/http://organicconsumers.org/documents/oca-financial-report-2011.pdf 2011 Financial Report]</ref> The association's web site also contains advertisements for a wide variety of organic products.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130221134656/http://www.organicconsumers.org/bytes/ob367.html Scroll down the bottom of the page]</ref> The OCA openly admits that they represent and protect the interests of "several thousand businesses in the natural foods and organic marketplace".<ref>OCA: [http://www.organicconsumers.org/aboutus.cfm About Us]</ref>

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".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120804170549/http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/08/02-0 Open Letter to the Organic Community: The California Ballot Initiative to Label GMOs]</ref>

When [[Mark Lynas]]<ref>slate.com: [http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/01/03/mark_lynas_environmentalist_who_opposed_gmos_admits_he_was_wrong.html Leading Environmental Activist’s Blunt Confession: I Was Completely Wrong To Oppose GMOs]</ref> spoke out against the anti-[[Genetic modification|GM]] movement, the OCA issued a newsletter claiming that Mark Lynas was paid off by biotech companies.<ref>OCA: [http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27042.cfm Mark Lynas: GMO Convert? Or Hired Gun?]</ref> 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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080113065008/http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=10156 "Charity Navigator Rating - Organic Consumers Association"]</ref>

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]],<ref>OCA: [http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27674.cfm Portland, Oregon Votes NO on Water Fluoridation ]</ref> [[food irradiation]],<ref>OCA: [https://web.archive.org/web/20070202005634/http://www.organicconsumers.org/irradlink.cfm Information on Food Irradiation]</ref> [[9/11 conspiracy theories]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160312043058/https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/911-consensus-panel-factual-evidence-contradicts-official-story]</ref>, [[raw milk movement|raw milk]],<ref>OCA: [http://organicconsumers.org/raw-milk/ Raw Milk]</ref> [[vaccines]],<ref>OCA: [https://web.archive.org/web/20150227081151/https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/breaking-courts-discreetly-confirm-mmr-vaccine-causes-autism Breaking: Courts Discreetly Confirm MMR Vaccine Causes Autism]</ref> [[homeopathy]],<ref>OCA: [http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27865.cfm Anti-Science Authority (ASA) Provokes Rebellion from Homeopaths]</ref> [[nuclear power]],<ref>OCA: [http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27695.cfm Victory for Grassroots Activism and Public Safety: San Onofre Nuclear Plant Closure Announced]</ref> and more. Predictably, their position on all of those subjects is in line with [[appeal to nature|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 [[appeal to Monsanto|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".<ref>Western Farm Press: [https://web.archive.org/web/20111104031447/http://westernfarmpress.com/column-get-know-anti-biotech-crowd-0 Column: Get to know the anti-biotech crowd]</ref> 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".<ref>OCA: [http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_27318.cfm Update - Help Us Find the Top Ten 'Right-to-Know' Grocers!]</ref>

Despite condemning conventional agriculture subsidies,<ref>OCA: [https://web.archive.org/web/20040417040345/http://www.organicconsumers.org/clothes/willallen011504.cfm U.S. Cotton Subsidies: Killing Farmers & Poisoning Consumers & the Earth]</ref> the OCA wants the US Government to allocate "billions of dollars" for organic farming subsidies.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20001205155100/http://www.dadamo.com/forum/archive8/config.pl?read=45380 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."]</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.organicconsumers.org/ Organic Consumers Association]

==References==
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[[Category:Food woo promoters]]
[[Category:Biotechnology]]

Categories: Food woo promoters, Biotechnology