Green Washing - How to Decipher Personal Care Product Claims

More than ever before, consumers are clamoring for 'greener' products. Their growing and legitimate conce
s about the health and safety of their families and the planet are driving this demand for more genuinely "green" and sustainable goods and services.

In its 2009 report "The Seven Sins of Greenwashing," environmental marketing firm Terrachoice, noted that manufacturers and retailers are stepping up to meet the growing demand for more environmentally safe products. But, as the title of their report suggests, the dark side of this trend, "Greenwashing," continues to be a conce
and possible impediment to wider adoption of greener options due to the mistrust and skepticism it creates.

The term "Greenwashing" refers to a widely used practice of misleading consumers with deliberately vague or even false claims about the environmental benefits of a product or the environmental practices of the company who produces it. This trend stretches across a variety of industries, but is prominent in the Health and Beauty (HABA) category, where the potential for confusion regarding product claims is probably greatest.

Consider the results of another recent market research study done by The Shelton Group. Their Eco Pulse study on natural and organic label claims revealed that a surprising number of Americans (over 50% of those surveyed) erroneously believe that the term "Natural" is regulated by the government and therefore more reliable, while "Organic" is an unregulated, fancy, marketing buzzword slapped on products to justify a higher price point. Of course, this is the opposite of what's true.

With so many different standards and claims floating around out there, how can you know what to look for in your personal care products to ensure you're not being greenwashed? Here's a brief round up of some of the types of claims you might see and how to evaluate them:

1. Natural Claims

This is the most common and the most nebulous of claims on personal care products. Since there are no regulatory standards here, you have to educate yourself as much as possible on the difference between natural and not-so-natural ingredients to decipher the claims. The main things to consider are a company or brand's track record, and hidden trade-offs with respect to the product's ingredients.

The Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database enables you to see how both companies and their individual products rank in terms of health and safety. Products with higher rankings (i.e. 7-10) generally contain a higher amount of potentially toxic chemicals and questionable ingredients.

Companies whose products rank in the middle to high range should be scrutinized more carefully. Their claims of being "natural" likely involve trade-offs - meaning they may contain natural ingredients but they also contain harmful ingredients. Keep in mind that the term "natural" does not speak directly to the environmental benefits of the product or the manufacturer's environmental practices.

2. Free From Claims

Beware of "free from" claims - ones that tend to emphasize what's not in the product at the expense of what is. These can be highly misleading because they either imply that the free from ingredient is in some way undesirable when that may not be the case, or worse, the free from ingredient is one that has no relevance to either the safety of the product or its environmental impact. These types of claims can also be another way of re-directing attention from the hidden trade-offs mentioned earlier.

For example, a company that makes scented products using "fragrance" may put a "free from phthalates" claim on its label. Since the term "fragrance" is not regulated, how can you know that this claim is true? What proof is being offered to validate the claim either on the label or elsewhere? In this example the only way you can judge is if the product is still scented with "fragrance" as opposed to pure essential oils.

Obviously, products that are free from petroleum-based ingredients or synthetic chemicals are by nature going to be safer for you and more environmentally friendly, but you have to know how to read and understand the ingredient panel to determine its legitimacy.

3. Organic Claims

Market research clearly indicates that this claim doesn't currently hold much authority with the average consumer, but the increased use of organic and especially certified organic ingredients plays a critical and often overlooked part in the environmental sustainability movement.

Most consumers understand the importance of buying food products that are organically grown or produced, but many have not yet made the connection to their importance in personal care products.

Because most of these products are either applied directly to the skin or consumed orally, it makes perfect sense that they should also be free of pesticides. The only way to know if they are, is through some form of certification.

The waters surrounding organic certification are a little murky right now. The USDA NOP (National Organic Program) seal is the only legitimate seal currently recognized by consumers, however the standards for that seal were designed specifically for agriculture, and as such present problems with respect to its application to many personal care products.

In the absence of clearly defined standards for personal care, various industry alliances have formed to come up with their own standards to fill the void. Some of the standards that have recently emerged include OASIS (Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards), NPA (Natural Products Association), NaTrue (the National Science Foundation's standard negotiated in conjunction with European manufacturers), and COSMOS, which represents the harmonization of 6 different European certification bodies (including France's Ecocert, Germany's BDIH, and the UK's Soil Association). These are still a lot of competing (and possibly conflicting) standards to navigate, so your mileage may vary ...

4. Social and Ethical Claims

The most common of these are Fair Trade and Cruelty-Free or Not Tested on Animals. At the moment Fair Trade claims on personal care products are rare as the specifics of that type of certification typically apply to agricultural products like coffee or chocolate, or products (like clothing) made from cotton or other natural fibers that are grown and harvested by farmers in poor countries.

The Cruelty-Free and animal testing claims typically apply more to cosmetics (make up) than to personal care, but often get slapped onto the latter for marketing purposes. The best way to validate this sort of claim is to look for either the Leaping Bunny seal (a program of the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics) or a Friends of PETA endorsement - either on the product itself or on the company's web site and marketing collateral. You can also verify by going directly to these sites, and searching their list of participating companies.

While certifications and endorsements play an important part in helping consumers identify products that are legitimately green and safe, we still have a ways to go before they become truly reliable. It's also important to remember that the absence of such seals doesn't mean that a product is not green or doesn't live up to its claims. Certification can often be quite costly and out of the reach of smaller companies whose whole purpose (ironically) revolves around providing truly green or natural products. In the absence of a reliable eco-label or seal, your best bet is to choose the products and companies that offer transparency, information, and education.

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