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USDA to stop certifying cosmetics, other
products organic
Consumers,
companies alike voice frustration over losing the labels
By
Libby Quaid, The Associated Press
June 5, 2005
WASHINGTON -- If you want
a lotion, soap or lip balm free of chemicals and synthetics, you'd better read
the fine print. The Agriculture Department is taking its round, green "USDA
Organic" label off personal care products and cosmetics.
When it created the seal in 2002, the
primary intent was to certify the organic claims made by food producers, such as
that meat came from animals raised without antibiotics and not confined indoors,
or that vegetables were grown without pesticides.
But the department also opened the door to
making a wide range of other products eligible for the label: cosmetics and
personal care items, pet food, dietary supplements, textiles like cotton
T-shirts and fish.
"The feeling was, if your product was
composed of agricultural ingredients, and you thought you could get certified,
you were welcome to try," said Barbara Robinson, head of the department's
National Organic Program.
Three years later, the department decided
it had gone too far. In April, it began telling companies their cosmetics and
other personal care products can't be government-certified as organic, after
all.
Fish and pet food are also off the table,
but only for now. The department is creating task forces to make rules for
certifying them. Still being decided is whether dietary supplements can use the
seal.
"As time went by, and legal counsel in
the department and senior policy officials took a closer look, they determined
that wouldn't really stand up in a court of law," Robinson said.
That's bad news to Nancy Piersel of
Finland, Minn. She looks for the organic seal because she has a disorder called
multiple chemical sensitivity, which causes allergy-like symptoms when she's
exposed to many substances.
The seal "gave me more confidence to
try that product," said Piersel, 48. She makes her own lip gloss and,
before the seal became available, would call companies to find out more about
ingredients before buying something new.
"I have to be very careful about what
I use, because my skin reacts to a lot of things. I get rashes and burning,
itching -- the same kind of thing you'd get if you had a bad skin reaction to
any product," Piersel said. "Now that I won't have those labels, I'll
have to do more digging."
The department's reversal also is
frustrating to companies that spent money and time to put the seal on their
products. An Agriculture Department-authorized agent must certify a company
before it can use the seal or label something "100 percent organic" or
"organic."
David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner's
Magic Soaps, said his company spent some $100,000 to ensure that his soaps,
lotions and lip balms met the standards for using the seal.
Bronner said consumers are confused by
myriad products that claim to have "organic" or "natural"
ingredients. The USDA seal guaranteed his products are free of chemicals and
synthetic ingredients, he said.
"Everyone in the world's making an organic
claim," Bronner said. "We're not doing tricks. We actually work really
hard to make real, organic ingredients. The National Organic Program is what
consumers trust."
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