in article , Jason Quick at
wrote on 6/4/03 11:42 PM:

Perhaps it's instructive to examine a sample substance - vinegar. I'm not a
chemist or food scientist, but it would seem to me that vinegar is vinegar
is vinegar - acetic acid, usually diluted with water to 5% acidity.
Chemically identical, no? But if you're farming using USDA organic
standards and want to use vinegar to kill some weeds, you can't use
synthetically produced vinegar, but only that produced by natural
fermentation processes. It doesn't make any sense. There are plenty of
other instances where the regs *do* make sense, though.

That may be the essence of the problem. It is like religion. You are given a
whole set of rules to swallow. If you do not swallow them whole, you are
heretic.

I get back to my question. Can my hydroponicly grown tomatoes, using mineral
nutrients only, be organic. If I use synthetic non-toxic sticky stuff to
catch white flies, are my tomatoes organic.

The more I find out about "organic" foods, the more the appear to be based
upon some kind of a religious cult. The cult may be relatively benign, but
does require conformity.

Bill