After studying organic gardening and natural health, and many
different health-care philosophies, I decided to go back to college,
become a doctor and focus on helping people get healthy.
Into the 1970s and ‘80s, the organic movement continued to hold
its social, fair trade and health-oriented subgroups. Even up to the
time when the USDA decided to take charge of the movement by cre-
ating a National Organic Program (NOP) in 1990 that would define
organic and certify growers, manufacturers and others involved in
the organic movement, there continued to be different philosophies
associated with organics.
The NOP would spend the next decade gathering information
from the organic movement, create standards, rules, regulations and
a system to certify all those it would allow into the organic movement
— often for a hefty price — under the guise that the USDAneeded to
regulate the process. The result was the “certified organic” regula-
tions, released in 2002, complete with a seal of authenticity. USDA
established three levels of organic: 100 percent, 95 percent, which
allowed 5 percent non-organic material, and 70 percent organic.
There was one problem: During this decade big business lobbied
heavily for regulations that would make it easier and cheaper to jump
on the “certified organic” bandwagon. Not only that, the large manu-
facturers of processed foods, the sugar industry, large food chains and
a variety of other lobbyists made sure they were part of the process.
The result was a massive growth of organic junk food that coincided
with the NOP’s “organic” launch in 2002.
Just before the NOPbecame law, I created, in 1999, the first line of
certified-organic dietary supplements made from real food. I fol-
lowed the developments of the USDA’s certified organic program and
prepared my formulas based on what I thought would be the require-
ments for organic certification. These were easily met, and today,
these dietary supplements are sold by First Organics, Inc.
The Organic Trade Association (OTA) evolved from part of the
movement that was the political tail. Its goal was to help companies
involved in certified organic activities work with other companies
and the NOP. Unfortunately, it was a political organization not orient-
ed to health. At its first national trade show, I was shocked at the
number of organic junk food companies represented — you could
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