The FDA still hasn’t stepped up to make sure chemicals used in our personal care products are safe — but yet another new independent “certification system” seems to pop up every day. How’s an enviro girl to navigate through them all?
An optimist might hope these systems could fill the void the FDA’s left. After all, many of these new certifications claim high organic requirements! First, there’s the Organic And Sustainable Industry Standards (OASIS), self-dubbed the first organic standard for the U.S. beauty and personal-care market, which requires 85% organic content. Then there’s Ecocert, the current prevailing European standard and certification, which requires a minimum of 10% organic content for all products and 100% organic content for products with organic in the label. Doesn’t 85-100% sound pretty high?
Unfortunately, getting to a seemingly-high percentage doesn’t actually mean a high standard — because water content can be counted in this percentage. For some EcoCert products, “up to 80% of the organic content is just regular tap water,” according to Organic Consumers Association.
Besides, the fact that 85% of a product is organic doesn’t mean that that last 15% is safe — and really, it’s these smaller percentages that contain all the gross stuff in conventional as well as some of these “certified” products. Would you eat a dessert that’s 85% organic fruit and 15% mercury? Didn’t think so….
Organic Consumers Association has already pointed out that both OASIS and EcoCert allow questionable ingredients to be used in their products.. OASIS, for example, will certify products that include synthetic petrochemical preservatives like Phenoxyethanol. EcoCert, for its part, will give its certification to products containing petrochemicals such as Cocamdiopropyl Betaine. Worse, some EcoCert certified products with organic in the name actually aren’t actually 100% organic, because EcoCert bends its own rules.
That said — sometimes, OCA’s warnings are rather alarmist. For example, some of the ingredients that the OCA warns about actually aren’t really dangerous, according to Environmental Working Group’s database Skin Deep. The fact that an ingredient isn’t (or can’t be) certified organic doesn’t automatically mean that the stuff is poison!
OCA’s more concerned with consumer confusion surrounding the word “organic,” than with whether or not the products are actually safe for your use. Thus the OCA will sometimes yell and scream about how a product with “organic” in its name includes a non-organic ingredient, and make the product sound really bad — when the product is actually quite safe (though not organic). I can see OCA’s point about consumer confusion surrounding the organic label– and the reason behind why they’re taking the tactics that they do — but their actions also sometimes create additional confusion on the part of the consumer who might then “give up” trying to find good products and go back to using unhealthy, chemicalized stuff.
Healthy personal care products really do make a difference; all sorts of skin and health problems you’ve learned to live with may simply be caused by your less-than-green shampoo or makeup. Kelly Leahy at Green Daily report that her two-year-old had a patch of cradle cap on the crown of her head that wouldn’t disappear — and then her five-month-old developed the same. So she ditched the dandruff shampoo brought on the eco-friendly Dr. Bronner’s Baby Mild: “only days after switching shampoos, the cradle cap is disappearing from both heads.”
My advice: If you must have 100% organic certified products, then stick to the stuff that has the USDA organic seal. Otherwise, the certification systems might help steer you in a better direction if you’re in a pinch, but if you can, plug in the product you’re buying into EWG’s Skin Deep cosmetic safety database to see if the ingredients in it are safe. One word of caution: Double check to make sure the ingredient lists on the product label and EWG’s review match up to make sure you’re getting the correct safety rating. Yes, the research effort is a bit of a pain, but once you find a safe product you like, you can just stick to it for years to come –
It bothers me that once a product labels itself as green, it automatically goes under the microscope, and any flaw found is seen as a massive, news making black mark. The reality is, even with these downsides the products are still better than most mainstream products out there. When products are tested without comparison - ie. they talk about Green Shampoo X having carcinogens, but they don’t talk about Mainstream Shampoo Y having twice as many carcinogens - it is misleading and quite unfair to the product, because the product is usually overall better for you and for the environment. That gets lost in the hype.
The truth is, nothing is 100% environmentally friendly. Nothing comes without a cost. Yes, manufacturers need to strive to do better and better and consumers need to be aware of what we’re buying. But to focus on a single flaw on a product that is at least trying to be better for the environment makes me gnash my teeth in frustration, because it is so short sighted and hurts the environmental momentum overall. Even your products, that you claim to be certified organic, use Caustic Soda or Potassium hydroxide (that are not really natural ingredients) during the soap making process.
Comment by Organic Mind — April 12, 2008 @ 8:14 pm
Just another point: USDA NOP program doesn’t count water; so a product that has 1% of organic ingredient and 99% of water or salt could be named ORGANIC and have the USDA seal… and taking into consideration that the main ingredient of any shampoo, liquid soap (even the so called Certified organic) is water, the 10% minimum organic contend required by ECOCERT is not low at all… Educate yourself before starting spreading misleading news… OCA is being used by Dr. Bronner to promote their new line of organic soaps (that are certified by USDA). Hey do you know how much water is in it? It doesn’t matter, because USDA NOP doesn’t count water…
Comment by Organic Mind — April 12, 2008 @ 8:20 pm
Um, did you actually read my post? In it, I point out that water can account for up to 80% of the organic content in these products, I say OCA warnings can be alarmist, I point out some ways where OCA seems to be adding unnecessarily to the fear and confusion, and I note that even these certifications — although imperfect — can steer you in the right direction in a pinch.
Please read the post before going off into a rant that attacks my post by — repeating the stuff already in my post.
Comment by Siel — April 12, 2008 @ 8:53 pm
Great post, Siel! I agree with your very last statement that USDA cosmetics/personal care products are the best choice. I subscribe to the Precautionary Principle and don’t like using products that have even one carcinogenic ingredient in it. Why take this risk? I use the Australian Miessence products because they are Organic up to food grade standards albeit a tad pricey for most. (And yes I’m an independent rep but since I’m not a sales person really haven’t sold much.) No matter. I still love the products and stand behind their ingredients 100%.
Organic Mind - Your statement that “nothing is 100% environmentally friendly” is false and your arguments flawed. I’d be here all night dissecting your words, but I choose to move on and use my time more productively. Please just think before you speak. Ugh.
Comment by Tammi — April 13, 2008 @ 3:30 pm
They really ought to workout the certifications, cause otherwise they are just useless or misleading. Most people don’t even know that certified organic only refers to percentage of ingredients. Not to mentioned that most certificate programs are not policed by anybody. They are voluntarily set up, and the promises are as good as the moral stand a company takes.
PS: I know the post’s been here for a while, but I just found it :-)
Comment by julena — April 20, 2008 @ 4:58 pm
Wait — I never said that USDA organic certified products are “the best choice.” I said if you want only organic products, look for the seal.
I’m kinda getting the feeling that people are reading whatever they want to read in my post, nevermind what I actually wrote….
Comment by Siel — June 6, 2008 @ 12:56 pm