beauty guide to personal care labels Organic certifications
USDA Organic
Surely you recognize this green-and-white label, and it means the exact same thing on beauty products as it does on food: 95 percent of the ingredients meet USDA National Organic Program standards. Although it may be the most familiar seal, it’s also the most diffi cult for beauty companies to earn because it was developed for foods and drinks.
NSF/ANSI 305 Contains Organic
Ingredients
This relatively new organic label was developed specifi cally for personal care products. It indicates that a product contains at least 70 percent organic content, including ingredients certifi ed to European organic standards, which are now more consistent with U.S. standards. It allows for some chemical processes typical of personal care manufacturing that the USDA Organic certifi cation does not.
Cosmos Ecocert
Natural certifications
NPA Natural Seal
Good news: Natural certifi cations do exist for personal care products, unlike food. Products that earn the Natural Products Association Natural Seal contain at least 95 percent “truly natural” ingredients (derived from natural sources) and are free of ingredients with any suspected human health risks. It allows nonnatural ingredients only with no speculated health issues and no viable natural alternatives.
This European seal requires that 95 percent of a product’s agricultural ingredients and 20 percent of its overall ingredients be organic. It also considers eco-factors: Products must meet environmental packaging and manufacturing standards and use only approved green chemistry processes for ingredient modifi cation. Cosmos prohibits animal testing.
NaTrue
This common European natural standard, which appears in the United States on products such as Weleda, prohibits the use of synthetic fragrances and colors, petroleum-derived ingredients, silicone oils and derivatives, genetically modifi ed organisms, and irradiated ingredients, as well as animal testing.
Other certifications
Fair Trade Certifi ed
Ingredients
Do you care about the treatment of the farmers behind your products and about international social and economic development? Fair-trade-certifi ed ingredients must meet various criteria focused on these issues. As part of Fair Trade USA’s composite program, fair-trade personal care products must include 20 percent fair-trade ingredients to obtain this label.
Fair for Life Fair Trade
You may be most familiar with Fair Trade USA’s label, but there’s another to look for: The Institute for Marketecology (IMO) Fair for Life Fair Trade certifi cation indicates that at least half of the product’s ingredients (excluding water) are nonaqueous, nonjuice fair-trade ingredients. Products with at least 15 percent fair-trade elements are labeled “Made with Fair for Life Fair Trade Ingredients.”
Leaping Bunny
Developed by eight national animal protection groups that form the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, this label indicates that a company uses no animal testing in any product development stage, including at the raw-ingredient level.
64 deliciousliving | september 2012
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