U.S. organic standards board to ban nanotechnology from organic food

The Materials Handling Committee of the US National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has recommended that nanotechnology be banned from organic food production. The committee published a document on the US government’s federal register in September calling for the ban. The document will be open for public comment, and then the full NOSB will vote whether to affirm the ban.

Unanimous support for ban expected

Tracy Miedema, NOSB member and national sales and marketing manager at Stahlbush Island Farms, expects the NOSB to unanimously support the ban. “I think the board will speak with one voice prohibiting nanotechnology,” she says.

If the NOSB votes for the ban, they would then recommend that the National Organic Program (NOP) publish a guidance/policy statement prohibiting nanotechnology in organic food production.

“We will make a recommendation to the NOP, and we hope they proceed with it to rule-making,” says Dan Giacomini, NOSB vice chairman and chairman of the Materials Handling Committee.

Miedema says the NOSB followed a similar approach in 2007 when it voted unanimously to ban cloning of animals in organic production, which led to an NOP policy statement prohibiting cloning.

Miedema was concerned that products of nanotechnology could achieve status as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the US government, which could allow them to be used in organics. However, after discussing this with NOP attorneys she was assured the ban would keep nanotech out of organics. “We tried to build a document that is airtight,” she says.

Overwhelming majority opposed to nanotech

In March, the NOSB asked for public comments about the use of nanotechnology in organics. According to Giacomini, the comments they received led them to vote for the ban. “The overwhelming majority of comments said that nanotech should be banned from the organic industry.”

According to Giacomini, many comments said that nanotechnology should be considered an “excluded method” in organics as is genetic engineering.
_______
At least something will be safe to eat provided it hasn't been poisoned by transgenic contamination. Another reason to buy organic and support sustainable agriculture.