"When scientific concern about global warming made its way to center stage in recent years, the link between personal and environmental health came along with it. Soon enough, it seemed that a boardroom of deciders clapped their hands in glee that the concept of eco-consciousness came prepackaged with its own snappy branding, not to mention big potential for another kind of green — profit. Before you knew it, everything was GREEN! A reasonable question followed: If everything is green, is anything really green? After all, the word natural has been slapped on everything from Pinkberry frozen yogurt to 7Up.
Organic food was long ago taken from the farmers' market to the fluorescent superstore by the power of consumer demand. Now the grooming industry stands at this frontier. Yet as a general rule, people who are making tons of money — like cosmetic companies — don't deal well with change, and so the business of suds and sprays, which grosses about $100 billion annually in the United States alone, remains almost completely unregulated. (The FDA's focus is limited to a concern that cosmetics not be used as vectors for bioterrorism.) The "USDA Organic" label for food came about in 2002, and as of now, it's the strictest certification for organic grooming products. However, it's too difficult for most companies to reach the requirement that 95 percent of ingredients be organic, so many have generated their own less stringent, and rather confusing, seals of approval: Estée Lauder and L'Oréal are two of the companies behind the "Oasis Organic" certification, and Burt's Bees — which was bought by Clorox last year — is pushing a "Natural Products Association" stamp. Read More..."
