‘If it is going to be organic, it shouldn’t have any artificial stuff or preservatives in it. It should be natural, just the way nature intended.’ T.M. Iowa

Here’s one example that’s popping up lately. OASIS is a standard created by manufacturers of conventional personal care products. Standards, such as OASIS’s, seem to allow organic ingredients that have been grown via conventional methods using nasty chemicals. Standards like these also seem to allow these organic ingredients to be preserved by synthetic petrochemical preservatives – more nasties.

So if some of these new standards are saying they are at least 85% organic or even 95% organic but allow nasty chemicals to be included, would you use it on your baby, on yourself? In comparison, would you buy a can of ‘organic’ fruit drink that is 85% organic fruit (water counted as organic) and 15% mercury?

Some new standards now even allow water to be counted in the percentage of organic content.

So it begs one to ask these questions. Are manufacturers creating a new standard because they are unable to meet international Organic Food standards? Are they creating lower standards they can meet in order to cash in on the consumers trend to choose organic, which happens to be where consumer demand for personal care products is at?

Are they not willing to do what it takes, spend the time to create a truly organic product or spend the money that it takes to use quality organic ingredients?

Organic Consumers Association are pointing out that new standards for personal care products like OASIS and EcoCert allow questionable ingredients to be used in products.

EcoCert, is like a watered-down version of an organic standard. It bends its own rules. EcoCert allows ingredients used in personal care products to have been conventionally grown (as opposed to organically grown) and allows chemicals such as petrochemicals to be used.

So now that new so-called independent standards’s ‘organic’ labels are due to show up on many personal care products. What can you do to check if an ingredient listed is safe?

- http://myorganicfamily.mionegroup.com/toxic is a toxic ingredient directory sourced from MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet), which is recognised as the international standard for providing safety information about chemical ingredients used by humans (workers handling the ingredients).

- The Chemical Maze – shopping companion by Bill Statham
This book has been produced for those people committed to living a healthy lifestyle. The Chemical Maze: Helps you choose safer products Fits conveniently into your pocket or purse Simple layout makes it simple and easy to use Gives useful information on hundreds of substances Origins of additives/ingredients including ANIMAL and GM ” Environmental effects of chemicals found in consumer products. http://myorganicfamily.mionegroup.com/product/18130

- Dangerous Beauty – Cosmetics & Personal Care by Peter Dingle, Toni Brown is an eye-opening expose of some of the most common ingredients used in today’s personal care products. This little booklet will arm you with the knowledge to make more informed choices. No longer will you be able to participate in mindless consumerism…ignorance may once have been bliss; but now it spells danger in our mass-manufactured, profit-driven, long shelf-life, chemical-romanced society.
http://myorganicfamily.mionegroup.com/product/18131

- EWG’s Skin Deep cosmetic safety database
Check their database to see if they consider an ingredient to be safe. It is an excellent source of reference – although sometimes not accurate on the safety ratings of an ingredient. An ingredient report may be based on an ingredient that is normally sourced from conventional agriculture – and hence found to contain high levels of chemical contaminants (therefore not considered safe to use). There are sometimes ‘certified organic’ sources for an ingredient that is clean and safe from the reported contaminants – unfortunally their reporting is sometimes too general and may not mention safe alternative sourcing.
www.cosmeticsdatabase.com

Sources:
OCA & Dr. Bronner’s Challenge Weak Ecocert & OASIS Standards
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080317/pl_usnw/oca___dr__bronner___s_challenge_weak_ecocert___oasis_standards
“Cease & Desist Letters Sent to Certifying Standards of Fraudulent ‘Organic’ Claims on Personal Care…
Dr. Bronners and the Organic Consumers Association plan to pursue legal remedies on Earth Day April 20th, if they do not receive responses indicating these certifiers will cease certifying outright organic claims in California by September 1, 2008.”

Industry Creates New Bogus “OASIS” Organic Standard for Personal Care Products
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_10886.cfm
“The OASIS standard was spearheaded and created exclusively by conventional industry members like Estee Lauder (owner of Aveda), Loreal and Hain (Jason, Avalon), without any input or comment period from organic consumers, organic farmers or personal care companies who have achieved USDA National Organic Program certification for the majority of their products. …

about organic cosmetics, organic personal care, organic standards