QUESTIONS:


DO YOU USE CERTIFIED ORGANIC CATNIP IN YOUR TOYS?

WHAT IS ECO-GROWN CATNIP?


SIMPLE ANSWER :

YES. We only use certified organic catnip in our products. I started this business in 1981 using only ORGANICALLY GROWN OR WILD-CRAFTED CATNIP in our toys. For 21 years our labels carried the word ORGANIC on them.

The NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM of 2002 made it illegal for us to use the word ORGANIC on our products without paying thousands of dollars every year to become certified as an organic processor/ handler! Even though we buy and use only certified organic catnip grown on U.S. farms, we are no longer allowed to print this on our labels. We removed the word ORGANIC from our labels in compliance with the new federal law many years ago but many other companies did not.


ECOLOGICALLY GROWN or ECO-GROWN is a term we came up with to identify our catnip as organically grown without chemicals and not be in violation of the federal law.



DIFFICULT ANSWER :

THE ORGANIC MOVEMENT STARTED AS A STRATEGY TO HELP SMALL U.S. FARMERS by enabling these small farmers to identify their products as a healthier alternative to the pesticide-laden, chemically mass produced food grown by big corporate agribusiness.

Big corporate agribusiness had no desire to grow organic at that time because they could get bigger yields and nicer looking fruits etc. using chemicals. It wasn't until the public showed that they were willing to pay a higher price for these chemical-free products that big agribusiness took notice.

In 2002 the National Organic Program was born and the federal government took over the certification process and made it almost impossible for the little farmers (who started growing organically because they cared about the environment AND people's health) to keep up with the unending paperwork and pay the thousands of dollars to be able to say they were organic. There are plenty of farmers today who grow organically and are no longer allowed to use the word.

You might think that big corporate agribusiness getting into organics can only be a good thing but since the federally run program began, big business has been working its way into weakening the protective standards that used to designate what the word ORGANIC used to mean. The federal government and big agribusiness now own the word ORGANIC!

There is an alternative movement on the rise to help the smaller farmers once again but this is just beginning.

Here is a link to a web page explaining what I am referring to:

http://www.cngfarming.org/faqs


Thank you for caring enough about your customers to research this topic.

Judith McCullough