What I walked away from in researching organics was not horror in regards to the loopholes and exceptions for chemical use, but the lack of oversight.
So, my memory may be a bit rusty, but basically you have tens of thousands of producers all over the USA. These producers are 'moderated' by just a few thousand certification companies, who formally announce that they're coming to audit the producer, and the producer has 24 hours to 'prep' for inspection. If the producer
should fail to meed code on something, the auditing company writes them a formal notice of deviation from organic rules, the producers submits a formal response of how they will mend their ways, and the auditing company reviews it and chooses whether or not to accept their terms of correction and timeline needed to do so. Once the deadline approaches, the moderating company re-audits the offending producer. If things still aren't up to snuff, the process continues.
All of these certifying/moderating companies report to a panel of "no less than 3 persons", who review every last report, complaint, and failure-to-comply by the producers. This panel of "no less than 3 persons" reports to 1 man, master overseer of USDA Organic Certification in the country (don't recall his name), and he alone reports the findings to the USDA.
So, you see, there's a LOT of room for corrupt oversight, lack of moderation, and basically a lot of room to get away with whatever you want.