[ewestern]

This is not really true. Here's the National Organic Program: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nop. Anything sold as organic in the US has to abide by these guidelines. Here's the equivalent EU program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EU-Eco-regulation. There are some small differences in requirements between the two in terms of prohibited inputs, but for the most part they are pretty similar. Other countries tend to follow one or the other programs as the US and Europe is where the organic consumers are. Obviously, determining where to draw the line between synthetic and natural is a judgement call, which some may disagree upon. But in a lot of cases it's pretty clear, and the authorities make distinctions accordingly. Another big question determining an input's permissibility: how does this input affect the biodiversity of the system?

You're right about "biodynamic" being ridiculous. All biodynamic farming, however, adheres to organic input regulations.

If you had some critique of the actual National Organic Program, that would be a more interesting avenue of inquiry.