Chemical-Free, Natural and Organic Skin Care Products and Cosmetics
There is a lot of Hype about no-chemical cosmetics & organic skin care and natural personal care products. As consumers become aware of the huge amount of ingredients that are unassessed for safety in the many body products they use daily, manufacturers are going to great lengths to advertise and market their wares as 'natural' and even 'organic' to woo buyers.
Over the past few decades there have been a plethora of new chemicals introduced into the market and the safety research has had a difficult time keeping up with the testing. Much is made of not testing on animals, but the bunny logo recognised as the insignia of 'not tested on animals' is a little deceptive.
A manufacturer can make this claim if they or their agents have not undertaken animal testing for the past 5 years, outside that, all bets are off! You can be reasonably sure that chemicals used on humans have been tested on animals at some stage in their production or they would not be deemed safe enough to be included in products applied to the human body.
As there are no regulations or legal obligations for advertising organic or natural skincare products, it is reasonable to assume that companies actually lie to consumers when they proclaim 'natural' 'organic' and 'chemical-free'.They claim their range of products are natural but boldly list ingredients with names difficult to pronounce. I have the image of bubbling test tubes that are likely to be the result of concoctions from the mad professor's laboratory.
Natural is perceived as being close to nature and certified organic ingredients are those that have been raised, harvested, processed, stored and packaged with an audit trail through out the entire life of the substance. This method can be considered true green skin care as the manufacturers who have taken the trouble to certify their products, will be aware of energy and carbon foot print issues when developing their range.
A Certified Organic ingredient has a guarantee from an independent third party governing body ensuring such a claim. Natural, certified organic ingredients are extracted with little processing, no heat to destroy the beneficial and often healing properties and certainly would not use chemicals in the process.
The governing agencies, charged with the task of maintaining watch on ingredients used in cosmetics and skincare products appear to be overwhelmed. The ever-increasing number of products and wild claims of magical results are more often industry reviewed. A conflict of interest may well be suspected.
To be sure you are not exposed to chemicals that might cause harm, choose body products that are certified organic and carry a logo of a reputable governing body. At the very least we all need to learn to read the labels and recognise the most dangerous chemicals. Those that have been researched and have been shown to be toxic to laboratory animals could also have catastrophic consequences to human health.
By Karen Armitage
