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 With so many foods and personal care products on the market claiming to be organic, consumers trying to differentiate between standards are left confused and disillusioned. Narelle Chenery is visiting Hong Kong, as part of her Asian tour to help consumers make informed decisions when buying organic personal care products.
Narelle Chenery says “the average consumer is confused by various organic claims and doesn't realise there are different standards. Some products that claim to be organic still contain harmful ingredients.”
"The only way to see through this greenwashing is to educate ourselves about harmful ingredients in personal care products." With worldwide sales of organic products now exceeding, US$52 billion, the inconsistency between organic certification standards and labelling of personal care products is also a growing concern. While some country have legislated organic certification standards, others are governed by non-profit organisation and private companies..
In Australia, the USA and Europe, certification bodies are working towards one unified standard. While generally strict organic certification requirements are in force for the producing food, standards for manufacturing cosmetics, personal care products, and household products are far less rigorous and synthetic chemicals with questionable safety, such as parabens, are permitted.
This is possible because of the different labels attributed to organic products. For instance: in the US there are three levels of organic. Products made entirely with organic ingredients and methods can be label 100% organic, while products with 95% organic ingredients can use the word “organic” and use the USDA organic seal. Products containing a minimum of 70% organic ingredients can be labelled “made with organic ingredients” and display the certification label. Products made with less than 70% organic material can mention this in the ingredients list but cannot advertise this to consumers. Similar percentages apply to the EU. Australian and USA organic food standards require that 95% of the ingredients for personal care and cosmetics products, excluding water are certified organic, and prohibit all use of synthetics. In China, the Green Food Development Center awards two standards: A and AA; while the former standard does permit some use of synthetic agricultural chemicals the latter is more stringent.
According to Narelle, “many people are not aware or choose to ignore the impact of chemicals on our lives. We are living in a society that measures the growth of chemicals with wealth, prosperity and progress. When in reality, we are seeing more people being diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses and cancers.
“And it not just people, our planet is slowing dying from chemical induced pollutants. Organic farming can go a long way to eliminate these toxins from our environment.”
Narelle quotes Gandhi, “Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty”, and adds “Education is the key. If we know how to read labels, we can choose to avoid toxins.”
The production of chemicals is growing exponentially every year. One thousand synthetic chemicals are available on the market. In 1930, one million tonnes of chemicals were produced a year. In 2008, 400 million tonnes will be produced annually. This means that every six hours a new chemical is being produced bringing this to a total of 1500 new chemicals this year. According to the Environmental Working Group, (EWG 2001) over half the chemicals produced for human consumption have not been tested for toxicity of the human body and where testing has occurred, this has been performed on singular chemicals and do not take into account the potential of interaction. People are normally exposed to multiple chemicals simultaneously through what we eat, absorb through our skin, medicate and inhale.
While our bodies can eliminate some of the chemicals, they are mostly stored in bones, fat, tissues and organs for years eventually causing damage to specific or multiple organs.
According to Varipatis, ‘We are taught that if it takes 200 units of a poison to kill us, and 50 to make us sick, then 10 units are relatively harmless. And one unit each of 200 different chemical toxins are absolutely harmless! However, what we are seeing is that the small doses of many chemicals ultimately are much more poisonous than the large doses of a single chemical. Once someone’s system is overloaded and damaged, then the chemical doses required to cause severe illness become infinitesimal’. (Varipatis,1997)
Narelle Chenery will be presenting a seminar entitled “Manufacturer’s sly secrets exposed” to members of the YWCA, and the general community on 19 August, 2008 (see events section) to help consumers become better informed on certification and labelling issues, and the impact of chemicals on our health and the environment.
Background Information:
Narelle Chenery is the Founding Director of OneGroup Pty Ltd, Australia and creator of Miessence, the world's first certified organic skin care and personal care range. She is a passionate educator and activist for social and consumer change, speaking world wide to business leaders, entrepreneurs, cosmetic industry professionals and government bodies. Narelle, a mother of three, has also written articles for leading health publications.
After completing her Applied Science degree in1993, Narelle went on to create her “Intelligence Cosmetics” range after her search for truly natural products was fruitless. In 1998, the range of products that began as a hobby in her kitchen became a successful mail order business.
A year later she teamed up with her husband Colin Chenery and Organic and business activist Alf Orpen and, after 18 months of research, Narelle revolutionised the beauty industry with her certified organic Miessence product in 2001.
One Group Pty Ltd produces a wide range of ACO and USDA certified organic products including baby care, skin care, body care, cosmetic, health and homecare products. The products contain 100% beneficial ingredients, made through a cold formula process which offers superior quality active ingredients, unaltered by heat and synthetic emulsifiers. All products are made fresh in Australia and shipped to countries worldwide including Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, US, UK, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.
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17 October to 6 November
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