[POLL RESULTS] Are you more likely to buy a cosmetic if “organic” is on the label?

I meant to say harmful artificial chemicals and pesiticides…..gotta choose your words carefully here.

Thanks Maggie, it is complicated, and I love your list of other things that are equally important to consider. It confuses things further when there are standards but no one to enforce them. In a multi-billion dollar industry, that's like not having standards at all. Having said that, enforcement would squelch a lot of very small companies trying to get a foot hold in the market so they can produce products using organic ingredients and work up to being able to get the ingredients and facilities certified so they can use the NOP label.

Upon reading the FDA web site's organic cosmetic labeling clarification, FDA is quite clearly saying that a product label stating “organic” on the front panel must mean that the product complies with the National Organic Program regulations. The FDA web site statement seems black and white:

“Cosmetic products labeled with organic claims must comply with both USDA regulations for the organic claim and FDA regulations for labeling and safety requirements for cosmetics.”

The FDA does have the authority to deem that a product is misbranded if the labeling is not accurate — untruthful or misleading in any way. As we do have a federal law that defines the word “organic,” and because we now have numerous companies that have gone the extra step to successfully seek USDA organic certification, we do have precedence for attainability and feasibility of the application of the organic rules to personal care products.

Regarding USDA enforcement of the National Organic Program rules in the personal care marketplace, the NOP recently issued an update on the status of the organic personal care labeling issue and said that they are working with the FDA to examine the extensiveness of the misleading “organic” labeling and to explore options for dealing with the situation.

On another note, we think that it's great that small companies have the option to incorporate organic ingredients in their products, and that it is fair and reasonable that companies can identify those ingredients, truthfully (we hope!), as organic on the ingredient listing of their labels. What is not fair and reasonable (and this is the crux of the “organic” misrepresentation in the marketplace) is the many personal care product companies that are using the word “organic” as part of their company name AND that are identifying their products as “organic” on the front of their labels and on their web sites without having the third-party verified organic certification of their ingredients and their processing methods and their facilities. This misrepresentation is grossly unfair to the small and large companies that have worked long and hard to grow their businesses and achieve their organic certification goals by legitimately following the regulations and not abusing/exploiting the word organic.

As someone who owns and manages a small personal care company and struggled to grow the business (against unfair competition!) for eighteen years, and who has gone the extra mile to get the NOP certification, regarding organic certification and a company's mission/priorities, I say this: if there's a will, there's a way. There are many ways that a small company can creatively and financially meet the organic rules and get certification for their company and their products. Getting certified is NOT prohibitively expensive. In the state of Maryland, for example, the certification fee is $400 per year and there is national/federal organic certification reimbursement program that is open to everyone in which the government will reimburse the business for 75% of their certification fee!

It is inspiring to see that there are now many small companies that have gotten their organic certification. We had heard of one small start-up company that arranged to rent (for a small amount of money and bartering some products) a local organic bakery's small commercial kitchen a few evenings a week where they craft their body care products; then, the owners work from home the rest of the week — labeling products, creating products, managing their web site and shipping their products. We know of another woman (a mother with one toddler) who turned her garage into her crafting studio space (sounds like the Donna Maria garage/studio project!) where she makes her personal care products and she is now in her fifth year of being certified organic and now also has a part-time assistant. Oh, and I really need to mention that this woman achieved her small company's organic certification goals while living and working in a wheelchair! If there's a will, there's a way!