Burt's Bees is considered a "murky" company

I love bodycare products and actually thought I was safe buying seemingly organic or natural brands available at my local shops. Not so, according to Organicgal’s List of Fakies and Non-fakies. Well, I did report on the carcinogens found in kid’s bath products, so this isn’t really isn’t a surprise.

My hat goes off to Organicgal though, who has taken the time to do her research and show her findings. Here are some facts which we should all know:

* Body care is not a regulated industry.

* The USDA Organic regulations/laws only extend to food items or body care items that are food grade.

* Because of lax regulations a body care company can use the word “Natural” any way they want, regardless of if they threw in chemicals and synthetics to the final product.

* A company can only use the word Organic (as in the product name, etc) on the front of their packaging if the product contains at least 70% organic ingredients

* For a company to display a label that reads “Made with Organic ingredients” the product must carry 70% or more organics with no restrictions on the other ingredients.

* For a company to display the USDA organic label, it must have 95% or higher organic ingredients with the other 5% being from an approved list.

* To carry the new Natural Products Association Label the natural product must only contain pre-approved naturally derived ingredients.

* The Eco-Cert label has fallen under scrutiny lately, for allowing synthetics in products (which is against it’s own rules) with many interest groups now not trusting the integrity of the EcoCert logo

Fakes include Alba Botanica (help! I am using their coconut body cream right now), Jason Pure Natural Organic (nice use of words, faker Jason), Kiss My Face Organics and Nature’s Gate Organics, all of which I sadly have used and believed them to be truly natural and/or organic.

Real natural/organics include Natures Baby Organics and Dr.Bronners ( Hurrah! I use their lovely lavender soap). And lastly, there are the “hit and miss guys”, whose products have both the good stuff, and the bad stuff. Included here is Burts Bees, who Organicgal says is at least honest about their ingredients, good or otherwise.

Good to know when you next shop for toiletries!