Coming Clean Campaign Challenges 'Organic Sham-Poo'; New Ads Target Organic Consumers, Web Site Urges Action for Better Organic Standards

5/12/2003

From: Ronnie Cummins, 218-349-3836, or Adam Eidinger, 202-744-2671, both for the Organic Consumers Association

AUSTIN, Texas, May 12 -- In anticipation of the Organic Trade Association's "All Things Organic" Trade Show, May 14-17, 2003, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) unveiled a rolling advertising campaign to inform organic consumers about OCA's new "Coming Clean" campaign for strict organic standards for body care products. Utilizing advertising along with its website, the OCA is increasing public awareness about so-called "natural" body care manufacturers mislabeling their products as "organic" that in fact are not.

The advertisement features "Sham-Poo", a close approximation of the products in question, which claims to be "certified 70 percent organic." Arrows pointing to the core ingredients elucidate the fraud of this claim: "Sham-Poo" consists mostly of synthetic surfactants, some of which are even derived from petroleum, which are obscured by flowery feel-good sounding organic "floral waters" and/or "herbal infusions or extracts" that amount to flavored water. The ad explains: "A number of body care product companies are counting non-agricultural water as organic, to greenwash their products and make organic label claims, even though their formulations are largely composed of the synthetic cleansers, conditioners and preservatives found in mainstream products. This fraud is destroying the integrity of the organic label."

The first phase advertisements will run in the following publications: Natural Food Merchandiser, Coop Grocer, Utne Reader, Mother Jones and E Magazine. Additionally, they will run in weekly newspapers in Austin, Texas, and Boulder, Colo. The website, http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare, provides extensive research and information about the organic standards debate. It encourages organic consumers to take action by sending a ready-made fax to the Organic Trade Association and the USDA's National Organic Program demanding that organic body care standards should mirror the standards for organic food products. In short, this would mean that:

-- Certified organic agricultural feed-stocks (raw materials) are utilized exclusively, versus petroleum or conventional vegetable feed-stocks, in the manufacture of the key basic cleansing and conditioning ingredients. -- Manufacture of such ingredients is reasonably simple and ecological. -- The toxicity of each ingredient is minimal. -- Non-agricultural water is not counted in any shape or form as contributing to organic content. (Agricultural water is the naturally occurring water in a plant and is fine.)

These standards will be debated at the "All Things Organic" Trade Show during the Organic Trade Association's Personal Care Task Force meeting on May 16, 2003. This meeting should be particularly interesting since the OCA filed a formal complaint early this month with the California Department of Food and Agriculture State Organic Program asking for an investigation of the company Avalon Natural Products' misuse of the word "organic" on many of their body care products. Avalon Natural Products, a member of Personal Care Task Force, uses organic floral waters and petroleum-derived surfactants in many of their so-called "organic" body care products.

The OCA is a grassroots nonprofit organization concerned with food safety, organic farming, sustainable agriculture, fair trade and genetic engineering.