Organic Consumers Association

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a non-profit advocacy group for the organic agriculture industry based in Minnesota. The organization's members include subscribers to their online newsletters, volunteers, supporters, and retail outlets.[1] The organization seeks to influence public opinion on a variety of issues, such as campaigning for GMO labeling, by its own advocacy campaigns and providing funds to other groups and individuals whose goals align with the organization's members, such as US Right to Know (USRTK),[3] of which the association is the sole major sponsor.

Organic Consumers Association
AbbreviationOCA
Formation1998
TypeNon-profit
PurposeOrganic agriculture advocacy group
HeadquartersFinland, Minnesota
Membership (2015)
850,000[1]
National Director
Ronnie Cummins
Revenue (2020)
$2,868,117 USD[2]
Websiteorganicconsumers.org

The activities of these associated lobbying bodies have been called "antiscientific" and "akin to climate change denialism" by scientists, alleging also that they seek primarily to engage in harassment of food scientists.[4]

OCA was embroiled in controversy for work they did with Andrew Wakefield to mislead the Somali immigrant community about the safety of vaccines.[5] Reporting has also exposed their close ties and financial relationship with Joseph Mercola, an alternative medicine proponent and "major funder of the anti-vaccine movement".[6][7] The Washington Post reported that Mercola had donated $3.3m to OCA.[6] Mercola and Ronnie Cummins, the founder of OCA, published a book titled The Truth About COVID-19: Exposing the Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal: Why We Must Unite in a Global Movement for Health and Freedom which the McGill Office for Science and Society described as "monumentally wrong".[6]

References
  1. "About OCA". Archived from the original on 2 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  2. "Organic Consumers Association 2020 Tax Return" (PDF). Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  3. Bredderman, William (2021-11-05). "This Fave Mainstream Media Source Is Funded by Anti-Vaxxers". Daily Beast. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
  4. Fedoroff, Nina; Raven, Peter; Sharp, Phillip (9 March 2015). "The anti-GM lobby appears to be taking a page out of the Climategate playbook". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  5. Belluz, Julia (2017-05-10). "Why Minnesota lost a battle against anti-vaccine campaigners". Vox. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
  6. Jarry, Jonathan. "The Upside-Down Doctor". Office for Science and Society. McGill University. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
  7. Bredderman, William (2021-10-24). "The Green New Deal Activists Spreading Deadly Vaccine Lies". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2021-11-07.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.