The Organic Consumers Association is a left-of-center nonprofit organization that advocates for tightening the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) criteria for labeling food products as organic. The association aims to stymie the sale of genetically engineered foods and other products associated with the use of pesticides and livestock antibiotics. [1]
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the association has published material and launched a publicity campaign expressing concern and skepticism regarding available vaccines and alleging that the virus was manufactured in a laboratory. [2] [3]
Background
The Organic Consumers Association was founded by activist Ronnie Cummins and his wife Rose Welch in September 1998 in Finland, Minnesota as a tax-exempt, nonprofit educational organization. The association was founded following news coverage of an ultimately unsuccessful Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposal to allow certain food products, particularly genetically modified crops, to be characterized as organic. [4] [5]
Campaigns
Opposition to Monsanto
During the 1990s, the Organic Consumers Association began an advocacy campaign against the American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto, which the association later termed “Millions Against Monsanto.” Beginning in 2012, the association organized and fundraised in support of various citizen ballot initiatives in California, Washington, and Oregon, which sought to required that foods derived from genetically modified organisms (popularly known as GMOs) be labeled as such. [6]
In April 2017, the association worked with Beyond Pesticides to sue Monsanto over its leading weedkiller product, RoundUp. The lawsuit alleged that the company had made false claims by stating that the product targeted an enzyme found in plants when it was in fact found in people and animals as well. On March 30, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against the Monsanto corporation’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit. [7] [8]
Boycott Big Meat
In July 2020, the association launched the “#BoycottBigMeat” campaign with left-of-center environmentalist partners including the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, Regeneration International, and the National Coalition of U.S. Farmers and Ranchers for a Green New Deal. The campaign aims, through public relations and lobbying efforts, to pivot the United States from general economic reliance on centralized meat production practices towards more decentralized, less industrialized forms of production. [9]
COVID-19 Activism
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Organic Consumers Association launched a “Right to Know” campaign in an effort to provide “the best health-related information and resources” on minimizing both the risk of infection and severity of symptoms. [10] One emphasis was placed on improving “overall health,” through good nutrition and boosting vitamin D levels. [11] Another focus of the campaign was uncovering the origin of Covid-19. The campaign alleged that Covid-19 was the product of ““gain-of-function” research conducted in a lab using genetic engineering and animal experimentation,” [12] whilst blaming “industrial agriculture” as a potential source of future pandemics. [13]
Association cofounder and international director Ronnie Cummins co-authored a book with controversial physician Joseph Mercola featuring a forward by environmentalist lawyer and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The book, entitled The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing the Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal, was published by Chelsea Green Publishing on April 28, 2021. [14] [15]
People
Ronnie Cummins is the co-founder and international director of the Organic Consumers Association. Prior to cofounding the association, Cummins was the campaign director for the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C, a nonprofit that primarily aims to promote and disseminate the views of radical-left economist Jeremy Rifkin. [16] [17]