Originally published July 9 2011
Group sues cosmetic companies for falsely labeling products organic
by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
(NaturalNews) Kiss My Face, Hain-Celestial, and 24 other consumer and cosmetic product companies are the subject of a new lawsuit filed by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), a California-based group that works to protect the public from toxic chemicals, and promote products and practices that improve public health and the environment. The companies are all accused of improperly labeling various products as "organic" that do not contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients, as is required by California law.
The California Organic Products Act of 2003 requires that any product labeled "organic" contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients. But Michael Green, Executive Director of CEH, says that after purchasing a variety of products made by the companies in question, his group determined that many of them were in clear violation of the law.
"For years, organic advocates have called on personal care companies to fix their improper 'organic' labels, but our recent purchasing shows the industry is still rife with unsubstantiated organic claims," said Green. "We want to encourage companies to use organic ingredients, and insure that consumers can trust organic labels to be meaningful and consistent."
Currently, there are no federal laws or established standards governing how organic personal care and cosmetic products are to be labeled. So many manufacturers blatantly market and sell products as "organic" that are loaded with petrochemicals and other harmful toxins. This is why the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) initiated a boycott of several brands that it dubbed "organic cheaters" back in 2009 (http://www.naturalnews.com/027440_organic_co...).
Of the 26 products CEH obtained, many of them not only contained less than 70 percent organic ingredients, but some actually contained harmful chemicals like cancer-causing BHA and cocamide DEA, asthma-inducing triethanolamine, and hormone-disrupting parabens. And in a few cases, products labeled "organic" did not even contain a single organic ingredient.
To see a full list of the products CEH says are mislabeled, visit:
http://www.ceh.org/index.php?option=com_cont...
Sources for this story include:
http://www.ceh.org/making-news/press-release...
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