Organic Cheater Personal Care Lawsuit Proceeds to Discovery Phase
Fri Mar 6, 2009 11:00am EST
Dr. Bronner's Plans ANSI-NSF 305 "Made with Organic" Certification to
Supplement Existing USDA NOP Certification
ANAHEIM, Calif., March 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps
successfully fended off the last of Defendants Motions to Dismiss earlier last
month, with the San Francisco Superior Court rejecting Defendants arguments
that California's Unfair Competition Law was inapplicable to their organic
misbranding. The case now moves into discovery, and Dr. Bronner's has
requested defendants to explain precisely what the term "Organic" means to
them as they use it in their branding and marketing. Defendants include among
others: Hain-Celestial (Jason "Pure, Natural & Organic"; Avalon "Organics");
Levlad (Nature's Gate "Organics"); Kiss My Face "Organic"; Country Life
(Desert Essence "Organics"); Giovanni "Organic Cosmetics"; and the certifiers
Ecocert and OASIS (the latter is currently in Appeal).
Defendants' "Organic" or "Organics" products are generally composed of main
cleansing and moisturizing ingredients that are not organic, but rather are
made from conventional agricultural and/or petrochemical material, with
organic water extracts or aloe vera for an organic greenwash. Organic
consumers expect that the main cleansing and moisturizing ingredients in
"Organic" or "Organics" products are in fact made from organic material, and
are not simply conventional formulations with some organic tea on top. Dr.
Bronner's has made clear that Defendants must certify their products, by their
preferred certifier, to meet the following minimum criteria:
1. If a claim is "Made with Organic," main ingredients are made
from organic material as commercially available, without petrochemical
compounds, except some synthetic preservatives are OK. Hydrogenation,
sulfation and other processing of main ingredients that does not
incorporate petrochemical compounds into ingredients are acceptable.
2. There is at least 70% organic content not counting water.
3. However, if defendants make outright "Organic" claims in
branding or labeling (e.g. "Organic Lotion" vs. "Lotion
made with Organic Aloe Vera"), than those products must be 95%
organic, without any hydrogenating, sulfating or synthetically
preserving
ingredients; and main cleansing ingredients must be derived from
organic
rather than conventional agricultural material.
4. If defendants cannot live up to their organic claims, than they need to
drop those claims.
Dr. Bronner's is pleased that the NSF/ANSI 305: Made with Organic Personal
Care Products* standard was formally introduced to the market last month. Dr.
Bronner's famous liquid and bar soaps are currently certified under the USDA
NOP food standards as "Made with Organic Oils" which exceed the NSF standard.
However, the NSF standard represents a responsible compromise between organic
consumers and the cosmetic industry, with important requirements disallowing
petrochemical compounds in cleansing ingredients and problematic
preservatives. Dr. Bronner's hopes that clean brands with clean formulations
that do not qualify for current USDA NOP seal certification, will certify to
the NSF 305 standard. NSF should become entrenched in the marketplace against
competing permissive industry standards in the market that were developed
without consumer input.
*From
http://www.nsf.org/business/newsroom/press_releases/press_release.asp?p_id=16445
:
NSF/ANSI 305 is also the only consensus-based standard for made with organic
personal care products, which means it was developed based on balanced
participation from key stakeholder groups, including organic personal care
manufacturers, trade associations, regulators, organic program administrators,
organic product retailers, and other stakeholders from the organic products
community. The new standard allows "made with organic" claims for products
with organic content of 70 percent (O70) or more that comply with all other
requirements of the standard.
SOURCE Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps
Adam Eidinger, +1-202-744-2671, adam@drbronner.com, for Dr. Bronner's Magic
Soaps
