"Organic" farmers can (and do) use lots of different chemicals. Why do people constantly fall for this sort of scam?

I have spent many hours parsing the National Organic Program Standards (http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/indexIE.htm) to determine what does and does not constitute an organic input (aka "product suitable for use in organic production"). IMHO there's a lot of hocus-pocus in the rules. Especially where animals are concerned. I also have experience selling organic inputs to retailers (for use in organic gardening). Many retailers simply do not have the in-house expertise necessary to self-certify compliance with these complex and ever-changing rules. They rely on the product vendors to supply compliant products and usually obtain indemnification from those vendors in that regard.

It's sad to see, that's true. But in this crayzee world of ours, where there are such things as organic foods that only have to be a certain percentage of a certain definition of organic, and there are actually acceptable levels of heavy metals that remain in your body once ingested, ain't none of us should be surprised at this.

As far as I go, I'm appalled just about every day of my life now, and pretty much burned out on indignation. I suspect I'm not the only one.

We are at the mercy of producers of "organic" food which sells for a big premium. I can't taste or see the difference between a glass of organic milk and a swig of Freddie's $2 a gallon store brand milk. Same goes for almost all foodstuffs labeled "organic"

I can taste a huge difference, which is why I started paying $5 a gallon(!) for organic milk. Whether or not the "Organic Valley" brand Fred's sells is truly organic matters less to me than the fact it tastes so much better.

Getting the chemicals out of our food is important, but I'm more concerned with the growth hormones in conventional milk. I just don't want my kids drinking lots of synthetic bovine growth hormone. (Plus, even after drinking regular milk for decades I still can't hit a fastball, so why bother?)