Coming Clean: Organic Body Care Campaign
Don't water down standards for organic cosmetics and organic bodycare products!
On February 18, 2004, The Organic Consumers Association submitted a Formal Complaint to the USDA's National Organic Program (NOP) against the company Bayliss Ranch and the certifier Quality Assurance International (QAI), for illegally counting ordinary water in Bayliss Ranch's water extracts as "organic".
This scheme enables Bayliss Ranch's customers--manufacturers of food and body care products for consumers--to make fraudulent claims about their products' being "organic", by counting the ordinary water in the Bayliss extracts as the primary "organic" content of the products. This makes a mockery of the fundamental purpose of the NOP, which is to assure consumers that products claiming organic status on front labels are truly at least 70% organic WITHOUT counting ordinary water as "organic."
See a list of the over 300 body care related businesses who have signed on to endorse this OCA campaign! Thousands of consumers have signed on, as well.
The OCA believes that organic body care standards should mirror organic food standards, which stipulate a mandatory 70 percent minimum weight of non-water/non-salt agricultural organic content in a product for a "Made with Organic Ingredients" label claim to be made on the front panel. This means that:
The OCA believes that organic body care standards should mirror organic food standards, which stipulate a mandatory 70 percent minimum weight of non-water/non-salt agricultural organic content in a product for a "Made with Organic Ingredients" label claim to be made on the front panel. This means that:
· Certified organic agricultural feedstocks are utilized in the manufacture of the key basic cleansing and conditioning ingredients, versus petroleum or conventional feedstocks.
· Manufacture of such ingredients is ecological.
· The toxicity of each ingredient is minimal.
· Non-agricultural water is not counted in any shape or form as contributing to organic content.
SOURCE Organic Consumers Association
Web Site: http://www.organicconsumers.org
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