Organic Bytes #208
Saturday, January 16th, 2010Health, Justice and Sustainability News from the Organic Consumers Association
Toxins in Your So-Called “Organic” Health & Beauty Products
Do you use Jason Pure, Natural & Organic, Avalon Organics, Kiss My Face ObsessivelyOrganic, Nature’s Gate Organics, Stella McCartney 100% Organic, Giovanni Organic, Head Organics, Eminence Organic, Physicians Formula Organic Wear, Good Stuff Organics, Desert Essence Organics, or any “organic cosmetic” certified by Ecocert?
Hate to break it to you, but these so-called “organic” personal care products aren’t really organic and actually contain hazardous ingredients that would never be allowed in products certified to USDA organic standards.
Yesterday, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), along with certified organic personal care brands Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Intelligent Nutrients, and Organic Essence, filed a complaint with the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), requesting an investigation into the widespread and blatantly deceptive labeling practices of leading so-called “Organic” personal care brands, in violation of USDA NOP regulations.
The complaint, filed on behalf of the estimated 50 million regular consumers of organic products, argues that products such as liquid soaps, body washes, facial cleansers, shampoos, conditioners, moisturizing lotions, lip balms, make-up and other cosmetic products produced by 12 different corporations have been advertised, labeled and marketed as “Organic” or “Organics” when, in fact, the products are not “Organic” as understood by the average health and environmental-minded organic consumer.
In addition to the complaint, Organic Consumers Association’s Coming Clean campaign has launched a boycott of cosmetics that claim to be organic, but aren’t certified to organic standards as required by law.
We’re encouraging our members to switch to USDA certified organic body care and cosmetics products, as part of a New Year’s Resolution to “be more organic” in 2010.
Switching to organic health and beauty products is easy and affordable. The simplest personal care regime involves shaving with an organic shikakai shaving gel, washing your body and hair with organic soap, following that with an organic hair rinse, and then using a baking-soda-based organic deodorant and finally moisturizing with an organic lotion or balm make of vegetable oils.
On our body care page, we’ve listed 26 different health and beauty brands where every single item under the brand name is certified to USDA organic standards.
We need your help to get the USDA to take enforcement action based upon our legal complaint. Please write to the USDA today.
We’re also collecting the stories of consumers who have been defrauded by fake organic health and beauty care companies. Do you feel shammed? Please share your story with us.
“Organic agriculture puts the needs of rural people and the sustainable use of natural resources at the centre of the farming system. Locally adapted technologies create employment opportunities and income. Low external inputs minimize risk of indebtedness and intoxication of the environment. It increases harvests through practices that favor the optimization of biological processes and local resources over expensive, toxic and climate damaging agro-chemicals…in response to a frequently asked question: Yes, the world can be fed by the worldwide adoption of Organic agriculture. The slightly lower yields of Organic agriculture in favorable, temperate zones are compensated with approximately 10-20% higher yields in difficult environments such as arid areas.”
Alert Update of the Week
It is a new year, we have a new administration, and the time is now to rein in genetically engineered foods and crops once and for all. Recent news and scientific research has underscored the urgent need to take action. For example, the USDA recently
Dannon (or Danone), the French-based multinational that owns Activa and the popular organic brand Stonyfield Farm, has 
President Obama’s new stimulus package is now signed into law. Here’s how it affects the green-minded home owner:1) New incentives and tax credits are now available for households for energy conservation and alternative energy. Homeowners investing in energy-saving insulation, replacement windows, duct seals, or high-efficiency heating and cooling systems can now receive a tax credit worth 30 percent of the upgrade cost (maximum credit value: $1,500). The previous tax credit was 10 percent of an upgrade cost, up to a maximum of $500.2) If you have been thinking about switching to sustainable energy, now is the time. Solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, and windmills also qualify for a 30 percent tax credit. For example, a $24,000 investment to make a home solar-powered would generate a federal tax credit worth $7,200. Previously, the cap was $2,000 for geothermal and solar; $4,000 for wind. Add state and utility credits to this and consumers will see significant discounts in these purchases.
This new program looks at the links between eating local and the costs of not doing so. Explore the business of small family farms, and the health benefits derived from eating organic, not to mention the economic benefits to the community from supporting local farms. We’ve posted two of these half-hour programs to our website for your viewing. Watch how one family starts up their own small farming operation from scratch. In the second episode, watch how this group of people fulfills Obama’s request to U.S. citizens to begin volunteering one day per week when they start getting involved helping out at a local sustainable farm.
Alexis Baden-Mayer from OCA’s Washington, DC, office attended the 2009 BioFach World Organic Trade Fair in Nuremberg, Germany, February 19-22. In her first report back from the expo, she says, “I learned that by eating organic food and composting our waste, we can turn back global climate change!”
This week, OCA’s Alexis Baden-Mayer is in LaCrosse, WI at the U.S. National Organic Action Plan summit where a grassroots group of organic producers and consumers discussed the creation of a coordinated plan articulating a shared vision, set objectives and benchmarks for measuring organic agriculture’s social and environmental benefits, and proposals for the future growth of U.S. organic food and agriculture for the next decade and beyond. Countries all over the world have developed and implemented national organic action plans with clear targets, benchmarks, and protocols to facilitate public accountability of agricultural policies. The U.S. National Organic Action Plan builds on this experience, but it is driven by a non-governmental group of grassroots participants.
Thousands of you have been active in OCA’s Web Forum, but did you know it also contains a section where folks, like you, are setting up their own blogs. Just go to the 
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