I first hopped on the organic food bandwagon when my daughter, now nine, was 18 months-old. A friend of mine gave me an article about children entering puberty earlier and earlier due, in part, to the many growth hormones given to cows so that they reach adulthood more quickly. My daughter was already a 24/7 handful by that time and I in no way wanted to see her reach puberty before she was due. That being said, I have made every effort possible to feed my children organic foods over the past seven years. So I was especially distressed when I recently read an article on the Organic Consumers Association site questioning the methods of producing organic milk.

Dairy farms claiming to produce organic milk just might be pulling a fast one on consumers. In a report issued by the Cornucopia Institute in late March of this year, a couple of the major producers in the organic milk production business have been accused of underhanded practices. With a "wink and a nod from the USDA" these companies are wantonly violating the strict standards to which all organic products must adhere. Two of the largest producers, Horizon Organic, a subsidiary of Dean Foods and Aurora Organic, a supplier to the likes of Costco, Safeway, Giant and Wild Oats, have been buying their milk from large feedlots where the cows are not raised in an organic manner and they do not have any pasture to graze. These large feedlots routinely purchase their calves from farms where a common practice is to wean the young animals on blood as well feed them slaughterhouse waste. The calves are also fed genetically engineered grains and given large doses of antibiotics.

These practices go against everything that organic farming represents. Horizon Organic and Aurora Organic control 65 percent of the organic milk market. Not only are they dooping the consumers but they are also a threat to the farms that truly do raise their cows to comply with the USDA standards. This sort of dishonesty is absolutely unacceptable. What do you think?