Are Organic beauty products really organic?

 

by Deborah Miarkowska

Rebecca Howard Dennis in The Times Saturday 8th August asked ”Are there any benefits to natural cosmetics or are consumers being ‘greenwashed’ ‘”.

My eyes were focused for three reasons, I have spent alot of time thinking about this subject recently and feel it is an important  point to discuss, another because I am currently trialing the Spezia Organic Cosmetic range and  this article featured one of our forthcoming contributors Jen Marsden.  

What is clear from this review is that we need to have our eyes wide open to the claims that are made by all manufacturers and look to see if the products are certified.  It makes for an interesting read, stirs up the grey matter, informs and provokes in all sorts of ways, take a look…

If last week’s Food Standards Agency report taught us anything surely it is to approach the organic debate with a healthy dose of scepticism. It’s been too easy in recent years to fall into the trap of assuming that all things organic must be good and anything that falls into the non-organic category is, if not exactly bad, then certainly second-best.The organic health and beauty industry is one such area that warrants closer inspection. Unlike food and drink items that must be certified before they can be labelled organic and sold as such, non-food items, including personal care products and cosmetics, are not subject to the same legislation. As a result the actual organic content of beauty products can vary enormously, sometimes making up less than 1 per cent of an item’s total formulation. The message to consumers is clear: do your homework, read the ingredients list and don’t assume a product labelled organic is necessarily free from synthetic chemicals.

“Products that contain only tiny percentages of organic material are really only half the exploitation problem,” explains Jen Marsden, author of the forthcoming lifestyle guide, The Green Guide to Fashion & Beauty. “Many of these formulations masquerading as organic are jam-packed with ingredients, such as synthetic colour, fragrance and preservatives, that bona fide organic certification boards wouldn’t allow.” Although organisations, including the Soil Association, are working to close the legal loopholes, they can offer only an opt-in system of regulation for those brands that want to prove their credentials. “Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of ‘greenwash’ when it comes to natural and organic products,” says Louise Green, head of sustainability for Neal’s Yard Remedies, “and fortunately more of them are looking for certification as an assurance that standards are being met.”

But until proper guidelines can be enforced the organic beauty industry is still open to misinterpretation. A prime example is the claim that “up to 60 per cent of what goes on to the skin can be absorbed into the bloodstream”. This statistic is repeated ad nauseum by organic beauty brands arguing that chemical-free cosmetics are just as important for health as choosing pesticide-free food. But the truth is, even leading organic experts cannot properly account for the accuracy of this statistic. Helen Lynn, organic expert and consultant to the Women’s Environmental Network, explains: “Conventional medicines prove the skin’s ability to absorb certain ingredients - just look at nicotine and hormone patches - but we have no evidence that confirms 60 per cent as an accurate absorption rate.”

Even the often-quoted studies that link certain chemicals to specific health concerns, such as parabens to breast cancer and sodium lauryl sulphate to eye damage in children, have yet to be proved conclusively - although this may be due to a lack of funding for research.

But for the organic convert the scientific specifics are almost by the by. That there is any possible risk to our individual health or the environment from commonly used chemicals in cosmetics is enough of a reason to cut them out of their lives.

“Some people would say the organic industry’s precautionary principle of ‘if in doubt, leave it out’ is hedging one’s bets,” says Margaret Weeds, product research and development director of the organic brand Essential Care (www.essential-care.co.uk) “But I don’t see the harm in hedging bets when it comes to health.”

After all, for many, choosing an organic lifestyle is just that, a choice and with the help of organisations such as the Soil Association and the Cosmetics Organic Standard, which is about to be set up and will harmonise private certification board standards across the EU, it can be an informed choice.

What to look out for:

Parabens Used as preservatives; possible hormone-disrupting side-effects

Phthalates Have been linked to adverse effects on male and female reproductive systems

Propylene glycol Can cause skin irritation; have been linked to birth defects in lab tests

Women’s Environmental Network has a beauty checklist at www.wen.org.uk

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