The recent discovery of the toxicant carcinogen 1,4-dioxane in several well-known body care and household cleaning products has become a topic of true concern for companies like Save Your World, operating in the organic and naturally produced product industry.
Save Your World supports and encourages a comprehensive review of the industry’s standards of practice and production and has gone so far as to initiate its own independently financed inventory of the formulaic content of its products. The comprehensive examination measured down to the one-part-per-million (1PPM) level, far exceeding any watchdog or federal standard for testing, and showed conclusively that Save Your World’s products are free from the toxicant.
Thus, Save Your World states clearly:
1,4-dioxane is not a part of our products.
Quality products that support a healthy, naturally fortified, wholly sustainable life – incorporating modern methods of diet, hygiene and wellness – are what Save Your World hopes to offer its customers. In this age of modern enlightenment and the ubiquitous Internet, people are truly empowered to understand what constitutes a smart, healthy, informed purchase. This heightened awareness has allowed regular consumers to discover and eventually purchase quality services and healthy products. Save Your World encourages informed skepticism and consumer awareness and welcomes consumer advocacy as a benefit to its burgeoning industry.
More than ever, consumers are concerned with exactly what is in their favorite healthy products, posing such questions as, “What’s really in those ‘organic’ chicken tenders?” and, “Is this fruity, ‘natural’ shampoo actually good for my hair and health?” Much to the credit of consumer advocacy groups such as the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), consumers are entering a new era of corporate accountability and product integrity. Consumers are calling for a fuller declaration of ingredients and manufacturing processes by companies producing “organic” and “natural” products.
To make matters more disconcerting for these companies, in March of 2008 the Attorney General of California, acting on both independent (OCA) and state-funded research, filed a lawsuit against companies whose products tested highest for the 1,4-dioxane toxicant. According to a subsequent article by the Los Angeles Times, “…tests of 100 ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ soaps, shampoos and other consumer products show that nearly half of them contained [1,4-dioxane] … a byproduct of petrochemicals used in manufacturing.”
The toxicant, which is not an ingredient but a contaminant from the manufacturing process, has been identified by the EPA as a probable human carcinogen for having caused cancer in lab animals. Under California’s Proposition 65, and in line with the EPA’s findings, “consumer products that contain toxic levels of 1,4-dioxane must have warning labels stating that they may cause cancer.”
The dilemma with these companies is they may actually be diluting the purity of their “organic” and “natural” products in their processes and efforts to bring a high-quality, yet affordable product to market. In their efforts to save a dollar, the healthful, natural quality of their products has been sullied, and the entire industry is taking a closer look at what may be a larger problem.
To understand this dilemma, a brief history of the organic and natural products industry is necessary. Fifty years or so ago, a few imaginative, health-conscious manufacturers brought their organic and natural products to market, essentially blazing a path as industry pioneers. As was their intent, these products were able to live up to their healthy billing, and seized a previously untapped market share. Though there were no definitive regulatory practices in place, the “natural” essence of their products and their healthful intent were genuine.
Fast forward to the ’eighties and ’nineties, when a slew of “natural” and “organic” manufacturers began to enter the market. The human processes necessary to bring “natural” and “organic” products to market are just that – made by humans. With “bottom line” and “shareholder equity” replacing favored policies of “sustainability,” “eco-conscious,” and “enviro-friendly,” corners were cut, and healthful quality appears to have suffered. These companies may have attempted to bring high-quality, healthy, wholesome products to market, but are failing in the end. Save Your World hopes to bring quality and accountability back to the forefront of this industry.
The general consensus on the subject – among government, watchdog, scientific and wholesale officials – is 1,4-dioxane is not intentionally added to these products. Tests indicate the toxic compound is a byproduct of the human process used to soften harsh detergents. It is formed when “surfactants,” or foaming agents, are processed with certain petrochemicals. The process is intended to make products gentle, smooth, clean, fresh and dynamic, but some of these formulas generate less than favorable results.
The federal government’s Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry releases what it calls ToxFAQs™, with the stated intention being “a series of summaries about hazardous substances and their health effects.” The September 2007 ToxFAQs™ for 1,4-dioxane describes the toxicant as a “trace contaminant of some chemicals used in cosmetics, detergents, and shampoos,” with manufacturers being required to reduce these “chemicals to low levels before these chemicals are made into products used in the home.”
Save Your World advises families wanting to avoid products containing 1,4-dioxane to do so by reviewing and recognizing the following ingredients required to appear on the outer container labels offered for retail sale: “PEG,” “polyethylene,” “polyethylene glycol,” “polyoxyethylene,” or “polyoxynolethylene.” Many products on the market today contain 1,4-dioxane in minute, immeasurable amounts.
It’s not as alarming as some may imagine, with many solidly imagined and well-designed products exceeding national health standards. Only companies selling products that tested close to or in excess of 20 parts per million (20PPM) for 1,4-dioxane in the OCA study were named in the lawsuit, with Save Your World testing negative for 1,4-dioxane all the way below the 1PPM level, effectively demonstrating our product purity. That said, the California lawsuit has become an important measure of the true condition of this burgeoning industry.
Indeed, with major players being forced to inventory certain product-line formulas, some companies announced shortly after the March 2008 lawsuit that they would be reformulating their products to ensure removal of the problematic ingredient or any faulty formula. This may be the kind of opportunity necessary for the “organic” and “natural” products industry to embolden its efforts at improving and reimagining healthy products, while bettering our environment.
Some forward-thinking companies like Save Your World, even though it is neither mentioned nor named in any of these salacious charges, are taking a voluntary stance to prove the purity and wholesome quality of their products. This kind of action is in lieu of more definitive regulatory guidance, as much of this industry operates outside any regulation or concrete standard. Save Your World, though, is asking for just that – more specific regulations and standards.
Save Your World has partnered with many organizations –the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), the “Leaping Bunny” certification program, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), the Organic Trade Association (OTA), and the Natural Products Association, for instance – to embrace oversight and regulation. These watchdog groups are free to support or refute any company’s claims of being “organic” and “natural,” as well as “sustainable,” “eco-conscious” and “carbon footprint free.” Some of these companies are joining with Save Your World’s campaign to improve overall product quality for the consumer while sustaining a viable and beneficial plan to nurture and conserve natural resources. An issue like 1,4-dioxane is simply a great way for them to shed more light on their cleanliness and natural goodness, to employ an apt turn of phrase.
One initiative for change is the “Compact for Safe Cosmetics,” which has been signed by Save Your World and several other personal care and beauty product companies. The stated goal of the signed compact is “to reduce hazardous chemicals that are prevalent in our bodies, our environment and in the personal care products we use daily.” The OCA offers anyone the opportunity to join the more than 500 companies and thousands of consumers who support its “Coming Clean Campaign” – one to rid the marketplace of synthetic personal care products misleadingly labeled as “organic.”
One major distributor of Save Your World’s products, Whole Foods Market, has a high-quality measure for its personal care products. Its criteria, called “Whole Body Quality Standards,” calls to mind these types of issues. Among those criteria are “plant-based and naturally derived ingredients, pure essential oil fragrances, gentle preservatives, and non-petroleum ingredients.” In addition, vendors like Save Your World are required to offer products free of animal testing. Save Your World is proud of its policies for following premium, industry-leading standards for minimally processed, preservative-free products.
A healthy, naturally fortified, whole life is what many consumers seek, with a large percentage demanding full disclosure of ingredients and manufacturing processes by companies producing “organic” and “natural” products. Save Your World supports this kind of awareness. This is a new era of manufacturing accountability and corporate responsibility. 1,4-dioxane need not be a bane to companies in the organic and naturally produced product industries, but rather a nod to human error and an indication of a better world in the works.
Save Your World wants to help better your world, one product at a time.
_________________________
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts187.html
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/whole-body-standards.php
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment