The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an American activist-orientated lobby group with more than half a million members. Last March, they arranged a set of tests on a range of personal care and household cleaning products.
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an American activist-orientated lobby group with more than half a million members. It has been campaigning on a range of important issues, including any moves to weaken organic standards in the US.
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Last March, the OCA arranged a set of tests on a range of personal care and household cleaning products. These were overseen by David Steinman, author of The Safe Shopper’s Bible, and were carried out by an independent testing laboratory, the BodyCote Testing Group.
{quotes}In addition to being carcinogenic, it is toxic to the human kidneys, brain and respiratory system{/quotes} The chemical they were looking for is 1,4 dioxane, which enters the final product through a process known as ethoxylation, where the chemical ethylene oxide is used to improve the water solubility of some ingredients. As a contaminant, 1,4 dioxane is not required to be listed on any product label. In addition to being carcinogenic, it is toxic to the human kidneys, brain and respiratory system.
Since last year, OCA has drawn up a list of the key words in product ingredients that are likely to indicate the presence of 1,4 dioxane. These are myreth, oleth, laureth, ceteareth, any other word ending in ‘eth’, PEG, polyethylene, polyethylene glycol, polyoxyethylene and oxynol.
{quotes}Testing revealed the presence of 1,4 dioxane in a number of products, including some that were labelled as ‘natural’ or ‘organic.’{/quotes}Testing revealed the presence of 1,4 dioxane in a number of products, including some that were labelled as ‘natural’ or ‘organic.’ While regulations in the States still allow the term ‘organic’ to be used loosely, all products with the US Department of Agriculture’s ‘USDA Organic’ logo were found to be dioxane-free. Although the OCA endorses USDA Organic for its strict criteria, it has criticisms about other organic standards put out by OASIS and Ecocert, which it regards as being weaker.
Under California’s law Proposition 65, products containing a certain level of carcinogens such as 1,4 dioxane must have warning labels alerting consumers about the risk of cancer. Using data from the OCA’s tests, and its own testing, last June California’s Attorney General initiated legal action against four companies, all of which were found by the OCA to have dioxane concentrations of at least twenty parts per million.
More encouragingly, an OCA follow-up study this year found improvements in 23 of the products tested. Many had been reformulated, while other companies were working on reformulations, but were not ready in time for the subsequent tests. Advocates for safe cosmetics point out that alternative ingredients exist, and that where ethoxylation is employed the 1,4 dioxane can be removed via a process known as vacuum stripping.
Another chemical of concern is formaldehyde. As with 1,4 dioxane, it is a known carcinogen, is found in a range of consumer products, and is another manufacturing byproduct. Ingredients that point to the presence of formaldehyde are quaternium-15, DMDM hydantoin, imidazolidinyl urea, and diazolidinyl urea.
Outside California, the rest of the US has no regulatory standards limiting either 1,4 dioxane or formaldehyde, and the organic industry represents the best chance for consumers to avoid them. As part of its ‘Coming Clean’ campaign, the OCA is pushing for organic bodycare and cleaning product standards to be raised to match those for food products.
In Australia, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has begun cracking down on companies that use the term ‘organic’ too liberally. Later this year, the first Australian Organic Standard will be coming out, and will include a bodycare section accompanied by a ‘positive list’ of permitted ingredients. Once the Standard arrives, it will only be possible to use the term ‘organic’ for certified products.
RESOURCES
Coming Clean campaign    www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare
