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Naturally misleading By Rina Rozenberg Tags: environment, Israel Have you ever spent a few extra shekels on "natural" cosmetics? Next time spend a few extra minutes reading the ingredients, too. In the absence of a law defining natural, organic or ecological products, most manufacturers tend to ride the environmentally friendly wave by using confusing and misleading wording. While Israeli consumers long ago learned to read the fine print, it now turns out that the words in large print are actually more suspicious. When cosmetics are labeled "organic" or "natural," and cleaning products claim to be "ecological" or "green," we must be doubly cautious. There is a growing awareness of the need to protect both the environment and our own health, and many consumers would like to apply that awareness by purchasing less harmful products, but all the extra labels on products only increase consumer confusion. A law defining what constitutes a natural, organic or ecological cosmetic or cleaning product has yet to be passed in Israel; meanwhile, manufacturers are still free to use these adjectives as they please. The Israel Bio-Organic Agriculture Association defines an organic product as one made entirely of organic raw ingredients, with no petroleum byproducts; that is environmentally friendly and manufactured from plant extracts; that has not been tested on animals and does not contain artificial coloring or fragrances. A natural product is defined as one made only from raw materials and natural additives - primarily coloring, flavoring, aromas and stabilizers. Thus a product can be natural but not organic. Advertisement Many cleaning product labels tout the word "ecological." What exactly is an ecological product? It depends on who you ask. Dr. Nitzan Eyal, director of environmental management at the Israel Standards Institute, contends that anyone calling a product ecological, "hasn't a clue what he is saying." Eyal explains that "ecological" is a scientific term referring to the reciprocal relationship between man and his environment, such that applying this term to a product is meaningless. Only products marked with a green seal do not harm the environment, and even then they are not completely harmless. The green seal is awarded by the Environmental Protection Ministry and the ISI to products that are less harmful to the environment than other products used for the same purpose. "A green product causes less environmental damage," explains Eyal, "but no product has no effect at all on the environment, because every product consumes some natural resources. The rating of a product's harm to the environment refers to the product's entire life cycle - from its manufacturing process, through its use and culminating with the processes after its use." Shai Friedman, owner of Ecogreen - Greenways, which markets Dr. Bronner soaps in Israel, concurs with Eyal and explains calling a product ecological only causes semantic confusion. "If I kill 50 billion bacteria with a cleaning agent, of course this has an effect on the environment," says Friedman, adding that even vinegar or lemon juice - effective natural cleaning agents - can harm the environment. "The question is: How long it takes for the substance to decompose and return to the natural cycle of life. Crude oil and synthetic materials decompose slowly or not at all, compared to other 'natural' products," says Friedman. Almost all regular cosmetics contain petroleum byproducts. Even though crude oil comes from nature, it cannot break down in nature - these are oils that are in the soil and have already spoiled and oxidized and cannot return to the natural life cycle. The inclusion of petroleum byproducts in cosmetics is therefore problematic. The problem starts when cosmetics manufacturers label their products as "natural" in a way that could be misleading. "Some cosmetics manufacturers take advantage and describe products as natural even if they contain only a small quantity of natural ingredients," says Ronit Nahum, a naturopath, who lectures on nutrition and natural cosmetics at the College of Natural Medicine. Nahum says that cosmetics manufacturers do not have to declare that their products penetrate the skin, and if this were obligatory, the companies would have to categorize the products as medication and meet higher standards. "Personal care products factories can use dangerous ingredients that are absorbed in the skin and would never be approved for use in medications," says Nahum. "If you get the feeling you need a pharmacist to help you read the li st of ingredients in a product, and the list includes things that have nothing to do with the plant world, they are probably synthetic ingredients and the product is obviously not natural or organic, and you need to think twice before letting it be absorbed into your body," says Friedman, adding that the ingredients list for truly natural products should be short and contain no names that include numbers. Most of the ingredients should be oils. "When plant extract ingredient lists are very long," continues Friedman, "it's a warning sign. There is usually no need for the list to have so many plant names, unless companies want to bury the synthetic ingredients in a sea of plant names to give the impression of being 'natural,' even though the concentration of those ingredients is usually very low." The meticulous examination of ingredients lists is a necessity regarding organic products, too. Recently standards drafted by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry concerning organic product labeling came into effect, but the law only pertains to food products. The Israel Bio-Organic Agriculture Association has issued standards requiring "organic" personal care products to contain 95% organic ingredients. Even so, this standard is a purely voluntary commitment and does not obligate manufacturers. Sometimes the organic label refers only to a few of the ingredients, but manufacturers want to create the impression that the entire product is organic. Wording such as "contains organic ingredients" only emphasizes the fact that the product contains components that are not organic. "This word game is misleading when manufacturers use huge letters to list the names of the organic medicinal herbs in their products, while hiding the list of synthetic ingredients," says Nahum. "No wonder consumers have no idea how to choose a natural or organic product from the enormous and enticing selection." In order to stop cosmetics from spoiling when they are stored in less than optimal conditions, manufacturers use preservatives that are supposed to kill bacteria and fungi. "Remember that the toxic ingredients in cosmetics products can also be toxic to humans, and not only to bacteria," says Nahum, mentioning one of the most dangerous preservatives - formaldehyde - and the chemicals that release it. Even though these are synthetic chemicals, they can have side effects. Natural preservatives can also be dangerous in large quantities. "The preservatives are absorbed through the skin and spread through body via the blood stream, settling in the outer layer of the skin. The lethal properties of the preservatives can kill beneficial bacteria on the skin and cause a rash," says Nahum. The advantage of natural preservatives is that they are familiar to the body's immune system, and their drawback is that they are not strong enough. "Many essential oils are known for there strong preservative and antiseptic properties, and are used as antiseptics that destroy most harmful bacteria and fungi, without harming the body," continues Nahum. Some examples of essential oils with preservative properties are tea tree, benzoin, myrrh, lemon and eucalyptus. Some vitamins, such as C and E are good preservatives, and rosemary oleoresin and grapefruit seed extract can help reduce bacteria when used in high concentrations and under ideal conditions, but are effective only against certain bacteria and are active for a limited period. There are several cosmetics standards around the world, but they, too, are not binding. The quality seal issued by Ecocert, the European body that addresses organic and natural cosmetics, requires products to contain at least 10% organic ingredients and at least 95% natural ingredients of plant origin. The German BDIH standard applies only to natural cosmetic products, and not to organic ones, and forbids the use of mineral oils, silicon, synthetic preservatives flavorings and colorings. Those standards, however, are also voluntary. The American soap company, Dr. Bronner, is currently waging a legal struggle in the United States against such cosmetics companies as Estee Lauder and Stella McCartney's Care and Oasis, on the grounds they label their products organic and natural when in fact they contain petrochemical products and plants grown with chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The purpose of their struggle is to promote standards and legislation concerning non-food organic products. Bookmark to del.icio.us   But you cannot hide Court rules Michigan resident helped liquidate Polish Jews during Holocaust. Junk TV Airing of first Palestinian soap opera was cancelled because topics were 'too liberal'.

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