Skinprint.com

Are These Organic or Natural Products?

There is ongoing controversy regarding the words "organic" and "natural" when is comes to skin care products. Let's start with the official regulatory agency..FDA...which oversees the cosmetics industry.  The FDA has no formal definition regarding these terms.  Therefore, legally, the terms confer no legal significance in the marketplace and manufacturers can use ingredients of their choice to convey these claims.

Responsible manufacturers make it a point to look at their ingredients carefully and make decisions regarding their source based on numerous factors.  These factors can include supplier certifications, independent "Organic group" certifications, internal definitions that the company has defined for itself as well as defining for themselves what is organic, natural or not.  There is a new lawsuit that has been filed against a number of companies making the organic claims by specific third party certifiers along with manufacturers who agree with these particular certifiers.  They have argued that third party certification is required and had invoked the USDA as the authority here.

These types of lawsuits are self serving and only add to the confusion in the market place.  There is a lot of money to be made with these little words "organic and natural"...but buyer beware...unless the FDA gets involved to set standards with regard to these terms, there will be no standard.

One phrase I observed coming from these certification organizations and the "ultimate natural and organic" companies is "chemical free".  I can tell you as a 25 year cosmetic chemist, if a product is chemical free then there will be nothing in the bottle.  Everything we touch or fell is a chemical of some sort.  One other inaccurate assumption that consumers seem to make based on some of these "natural group" claims is that natural is good.  What about arsenic, curare, petroleum, hurricanes, earthquakes...all natural...but good?

My best piece of advice is to read your skin care labels carefully.  If you are unsure about the ingredients call the manufactureer or go to a reputable source like this blog to ask questions.  Be an alert consumer and stay informed on all sides of these matters.