Offending Companies Claim "Organic" or "Organics" on Labels But Main
Cleansing Ingredients Are Based on Conventional Agricultural and/or
Petrochemical Material
SAN FRANCISCO, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The family owned Dr.
Bronner's Magic Soaps filed a lawsuit
(http://www.drbronner.com/usda_organic_body_care.html) in California
Superior Court today against numerous personal care brands to force them to
stop making misleading organic labeling claims. Dr. Bronner's and the
Organic Consumers Association (OCA) had warned offending brands that they
faced litigation unless they committed to either drop their organic claims
or reformulate away from main ingredients made from conventional
agricultural and/or petrochemical material without any certified organic
material. OCA has played the leading role in exposing and educating
consumers about deceptive organic branding.
David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps says, "We have
been deeply disappointed and frustrated by companies in the 'natural'
personal care space who have been screwing over organic consumers, engaging
in misleading organic branding and label call-outs, on products that were
not natural in the first place, let alone organic." Dr. Bronner's has
determined, based on extensive surveys, that organic consumers expect that
cleansing ingredients in branded and labeled soaps, shampoos and body
washes that are labeled Organic", "Organics" or "Made with Organic" will be
from organic as distinct from conventional agricultural material, produced
without synthetic fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides, and free of
petrochemical compounds.
For example: The major cleansing ingredient in Jason "Pure, Natural &
Organic" liquid soaps, body washes and shampoos is Sodium Myreth Sulfate,
which involves ethoxylating a conventional non-organic fatty chain with the
carcinogenic petrochemical Ethylene Oxide, which produces caricinogenic
1,4-Dioxane as a contaminant. The major cleansing ingredient in Avalon
"Organics" soaps, bodywashes and shampoos, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, contains
conventional non-organic agricultural material combined with the
petrochemical Amdiopropyl Betaine. Nature's Gate "Organics" main cleansers
are Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate (ethoxylated) and Cocamidopropyl
Betaine. Kiss My Face "Obsessively Organic" cleansers are Olefin Sulfonate
(a pure petrochemical) and Cocamidopropyl Betaine. Juice "Organics",
Giovanni "Organic Cosmetics", Head "Organics", Desert Essence "Organics",
and Ikove "Organic" all use Cocamdiopropyl Betaine as a main cleansing
ingredient and no cleansers made from certified organic material. Due to
the petrochemical compounds used to make the ingredient, Cocamidopropyl
Betaine is contaminated with traces of Sodium monochloroacetate
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloroacetic_acid), Amidoamine (AA)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amidoamine&action=edit&redlink=1
) , and dimethylaminopropylamine(DMAPA)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dimethylaminopropylamine&action=
edit&redlink=1) . Amidoamine in particular is suspected of causing skin
sensitization and allergic reactions even at very low levels for certain
individuals. Organic consumers have a right to expect that the personal
care products they purchase with organic branding or label claims, contain
cleansing ingredients made from organic agricultural material, not
conventional or petrochemical material, and thus have absolutely no
petrochemical contaminants that could pose any concern.
Dr. Bronner's products, in contrast to the brands noted above, contain
cleansing and moisturizing ingredients made only from certified organic
oils, made without any use of petrochemicals, and contain no petrochemical
preservatives. The misleading organic noise created by culprit companies'
branding and labeling practices, interferes with organic consumers ability
to distinguish personal care whose main ingredients are in fact made with
certified organic, not conventional or petrochemical, material, free of
synthetic preservatives.
Lawsuit Also Names Estee Lauder, Stella McCartney's CARE, Ecocert and
OASIS
Ecocert is a French-based certifier with a standard that allows not
only cleansing ingredients made from conventional versus organic
agriculture, but also allows inclusion, in the cleansing ingredients
contained in products labeled as ":Made with Organic" ingredients, of
certain petrochemicals such as Amidopropyl Betaine in Cocamidopropyl
Betaine. Even worse, despite Ecocert's own regulations prohibiting the
labeling as "Organic" of a product containing less than 100% organic
content, Ecocert in practice engages in "creative misinterpretation" of its
own rules in order to accommodate clients engaging in organic mislabeling.
For instance, Ecocert certifies the Ikove brand's cleansing products to
contain less than 50% organic content, noted in small text on the back of
the product, where all cleansing ingredients are non-organic including
Cocamidopropyl Betaine which contains petroleum compounds. Yet the product
is labeled "Organic" Amazonian Avocado Bath & Shower Gel. Another instance
is Stella McCartney's "100% Organic" CARE line certified by Ecocert that
labels products as "100% Organic" that are not 100% Organic alongside ones
that are; the labels of products that are not 100% organic simply insert
the word "Active" before "Ingredients." In allowing such labeling, Ecocert
simply ignores the requirements of its own certification standards.
Furthermore, the primary organic content in most Ecocert certified products
comes from "Flower Waters" in which up to 80% of the "organic" content
consists merely of just regular tap water that Ecocert counts as "organic."
Explicitly relying on the weak Ecocert standard as precedent, the new
Organic and Sustainable Industry Standard ("OASIS")-a standard indeed
developed exclusively by certain members of the industry, primarily Estee
Lauder, with no consumer input--will permit certification of products
outright as "Organic" (rather than as "Made with Organic" ingredients) even
if such products contain hydrogenated and sulfated cleansing ingredients
such as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate made from conventional agricultural material
grown with synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, and preserved
with synthetic petrochemical preservatives such as Ethylhexylglycerin and
Phenoxyethanol. [Reference: OASIS Standard section 6.2 and Anti-Microbial
List] The organic content is required to only be 85%, which in water and
detergent-based personal care products, means organic water extracts and
aloe vera will greenwash conventional synthetic cleansing ingredients and
preservatives.
The OASIS standard is not merely useless but deliberately misleading to
organic consumers looking for a reliable indicator of true "organic"
product integrity in personal care. Organic consumers expect that cleansing
ingredients in products labeled "Organic" be made from organic not
conventional agriculture, to not be hydrogenated or sulfated, and to be
free from synthetic petrochemical preservatives. Surprisingly, companies
represented on the OASIS board, such as Hain (Jason "Pure, Natural &
Organic"; Avalon "Organics") and Cosway (Head "Organics",) produce liquid
soap, bodywash and shampoo products with petrochemicals in their cleansers
even though use of petrochemicals in this way is not permitted even under
the very permissible OASIS standard these companies have themselves
developed and endorsed.
Ronnie Cummins, Executive Director of the OCA, said: "The pressure of
imminent litigation outlined in cease and desist letters sent by OCA and
Dr. Bronner's in March prompted some serious discussion with some of the
offending companies, but ultimately failed to resolve the core issues."
SOURCE Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps
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Related links:
http://www.drbronner.com/usda_organic_body_care.html
CONTACT:
Adam Eidinger, +1-202-744-2671,
adam@drbronner.com, for Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps
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