The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has been kicking around animal welfare standards since 2002. That’s when it first delved into the debate and passed its first recommendation clarifying rules to outdoor access for livestock in organic. How much room should a hen have? How much pasture grass should a cow munch? Are animals allowed to spread their wings, frolic afield and have something to crow about? After much debate and years of public comment, the National Organic Program (NOP) recently issued a draft regulation on animal welfare that reflects the sentiment and intent of the organic community. Now, four companies (and their conventional agriculture trade association) want it overturned.

This week, Congress is considering including a dangerous “rider” in the appropriations process that would strip the NOP’s authority by defunding the NOP Organic Livestock and Poultry program. It’s time to speak up and tell Congress to butt out of the organic process!

Why is this a dangerous precedent?

In 1990, Congress passed the Organic Foods Production Act, which set up a regulatory system under which organic operations could be certified. That law granted regulatory authority to the National Organic Program (NOP) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It also set up the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), a federal advisory committee tasked with advising the Secretary on the organic regulations. The process is the most transparent and thoroughly vetted food system we have.

It’s clear that Congress should not be in the business of writing organic standards, which is why Congress set up the NOSB process in the first place. If Congress can be henpecked into tweaking and trading every little thing their constituents don’t like, the entire process falls apart.

The discussion has been going on for 16 years.

Ever since the organic regulations were hatched in 2000, animal welfare standards have been needed. Organic consumers expect that organic farms take care of animals in a humane way. That why people buy organic, yet the regulatory process has fallen behind in this area. NOSB passed its first recommendation clarifying outdoor access rules in organic in 2002. Years went by, companies weighed in, people dialogued, disagreed and crowed about it until the cows came home. Then in December 2011, NOSB unanimously passed a recommendation that NOP must draft animal welfare regulations for the organic sector.

Finally in 2016, after much investigation, exploration and evaluation, NOP issued a draft regulation in line with that NOSB recommendation. Now, because four powerful companies are henpecking Congressional leaders, Congress may foul up the entire process.

If Congress steps in now to rewrite this particular organic standard, the precedent would be enormous. Rejecting the transparent, public-private partnership method of creating organic regulations in this instance is a dangerous precedent to set. It calls into question the entire process by which organic regulations are set—a process that Congress created, the industry has worked within, and consumers trust. Once this barn door is opened, you won’t be able to get the horses back in!

Tell the Senate we want even stronger organic animal welfare standards! This THURSDAY, the Senate will attempt to block regulations that provide better living conditions, including more access to the outdoors, for animals raised for organic meat and poultry and for organic egg production. Call your Senator today: http://bit.ly/OrganicWelfare.

Here are a few talking points: