NOAH welcomes Advertising Standards Authority ruling on Soil Association

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld four out of five complaints made by the National Office of Animal Health about a Soil Association promotional leaflet on organic foods, ‘5 Reasons to Eat Organic’.

The ASA rejected Soil Association claims about organic farming, saying they had not provided evidence to back them up. The claims stated "You can taste the difference", "It’s healthy", "It’s better for the environment" and "Organic means healthy happy animals". The Authority has asked the Soil Association to remove the claims and not to use them again unless they can be substantiated.

Commenting on the decision, NOAH said: "Making this complaint was not intended as an attack on organic farming itself. We have no objection to any farmer choosing to farm in a particular way, laws and standards permitting, but we are most concerned that some proponents of organic farming tend to promote themselves by attacking the 97% of British farmers who farm conventionally."

"It is often forgotten that conventional farming methods were developed as a way to solve the problems of earlier farming generations who farmed in ways that would now be termed organic," said NOAH’s director Roger Cook.

"The claims the ASA rejected have been at the core of the promotion of organic farming for many years. They have undoubtedly played a major part in the growing commercial success of organic produce.

"The conclusion must be that public health and welfare is paramount whether the produce is organically or conventionally produced," he added.

12 July 2000

Notes for Editors

1. For further information contact Roger Cook at NOAH, tel. +44 (0)20 8367 3131, or visit the NOAH website.
2. The National Office of Animal Health was formed on 1 January 1986 to represent the UK companies which research, develop, manufacture and market licensed animal health products. The association has 34 corporate members and 12 associate members. In 1999 NOAH's members accounted for around 95% of the £366 million UK animal health market, with additional valuable exports.
3. A copy of the 29 November 1999 NOAH letter of complaint to the ASA, with references, and the NOAH submission of 13 June 2000 on organic farming to the House of Commons Agriculture Committee is available here. A copy of the ASA ruling is available on request or can be found at the ASA website.