For those of you who read my last post and decided that they are indeed interested in the organic vibe, here is a little compendium of the certification boards that are out there and what their standards mean. Again- you have to be proficient label readers because there are big differences and very little standardization. We might one day have a global standard (and world peace) but until that day, here is the breakdown:
Cosmos: The new body convened my seven members of the European Cosmetics Standards Working Group that has just launched their standards. For a product to be considered organic, it must contain 20% certified organic ingredients.
Ecocert: Originally French but now quite a popular standard, they require ‘organic’ cosmetics to be made with only 10% certified organic ingredients. Many North American companies use the Ecocert label.
Natrue: Originally German and made up of companies like Weleda and Dr. Hauschka, they use a 3 star system. One star guarantees “authentic naturalness”, the criteria for which are determined by product category (i.e. a shampoo versus a moisturizer). Two stars mean that at least 70% of the ingredients are either organic or were collected according to controlled wild collection practices. The three star means that 95% of ingredients are either organic or collected according to the same above mentioned collection practices. They are currently working on a “Declaration of Conformity” for raw materials to standardize the certification procedures.
NPA: The Natural Products Association (an American association) was originally spearheaded by companies like Burt’s Bees and Aubrey Organics that requires 95% of products that use their seal have 95% of their ingredients come from natural (not necessarily organic) ingredients.
NSF: NSF was just instituted this past February as a national American standard and they require any labels that claim “made with organics” to include 70% ingredients that are certified organic.
OASIS: Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards is another American organization that is still finalizing its regulations but would require “organic” products and “made with organic” products to use 85% to 70% certified organic materials respectively. They would also take into consideration principals like sustainable development in farming or collecting the raw materials used.
USDA: The USDA borrow their standards from American food regulations and are perhaps one of the strictest in their guidelines. They require a product labeled as organic to have 95% of its ingredients as certified organic.
In Conclusion:So as you can see, I was not kidding about the plethora of varying organic criteria out there. They certainly do not make it easy to be an informed consumer. You need a pocket dictionary to be able to remember all the designations and sub-designations…what does a two star Natrue label mean if it is body butter from the Himalayans and I use it on a Tuesday? My philosophy will always be to read the labels of the products I use and to consider the criteria for safety and efficacy first and above all else. Natural does not always guarantee either one of those unfortunately but certainly organics could be a nice alternative in some product types some of the time…I’ll just need to read the fine print.
All the Beauty Best,
Sara A. DudleyLabels: Ecocert, organic, Organic regulatory bodies, USDA
