All Natural Products

You want to keep your family safe by purchasing all natural products. Looking for labeling like all natural, organic, green, and wholesome is a good first step in finding more family friendly goods, but the labels might not always mean what you think.

Labeling can be deceptive. An old story goes that in the 1950s a small university wanted to discourage female student enrollment believing that good educational opportunities would be wasted on women who would never make good use of them. The university released a study stating that 50 percent of their female student population dropped out. After a little digging, it was discovered that the study was based on two women, the entire female segment of the student body. That whopping 50 percent represented just one person. This is a small example of the way information can be manipulated to suggest a truth, trend, or idea that doesn't hold up under close scrutiny.

When evaluating product labels, looking for claims of all natural ingredients and processes isn't a guarantee that you're getting a wholesome product. The FDA, USDA and other federal agencies evaluate products differently. A foodstuff, like peaches, is held to a higher standard than the ingredients in a personal care product, like shampoo.

There's also the problem of vocabulary. The term organic is defined differently from the term natural by these watchdog agencies, but to the average consumer the descriptions may seem almost interchangeable. Other terms can muddy the waters too, like: green, eco-friendly, cruelty-free, biocompatible, biodegradable, allergy tested, dermatologist tested, DEA-free, and others.

Where foodstuffs that carry a certified organic label are rigorously controlled, that isn't always the case with other earth friendly terms, like natural, environmentally safe, or green. The term natural often refers to packaging processes rather than growing standards. Natural products are packaged without additional additives and preservatives. This doesn't address the issue of added pesticides, use of synthetic fertilizers or other factors, like bioengineering or the irradiation of ingredients.

In 2007, TerraChoice, an environmental marketing firm, released the results of a study they conducted on the environmental claims of over a thousand retail products. Of the 1,018 products they reviewed, only one was strictly factual in its marketing statements. The rest based their claims on ambiguous labeling, misdirection, and even lies. TerraChoice placed these marketing ploys into six categories:

• Hidden Tradeoffs - Making a claim using a very narrow frame of reference
• No Proof - Making unsubstantiated claims
• Vagueness - Claims that are so vague they are easy to misinterpret
• Not Relevant - Assertions that don't speak to the claims being made
• Distracting - Taking a lesser-of-two-evils approach to a product, like claiming to make a "green" or "natural" cigarette.
• Fibbing - Referencing certifications or product endorsements that don't exist

When evaluating all natural products for wholesomeness, be sure to do your homework. Instead of relying on what could be ambiguous or misleading labeling practices, check objective resources for the facts.

• Consumer Reports publishes detailed information on retail products. You can visit their Green Choices page to start separating the truth from the hype regarding natural and green product claims. Using their easy interface, you can select a product type and review its labeling report card to gain a better understanding of how substantive its marketing claims are.

• You can also take a look at Good Guide, a free website with environmental and safety ratings for retail products. As of summer of 2009, this was a relatively new site in the beta testing phase, but it offers good information on the health risks of some common personal care, household, and food products. It also provides information on the eco-friendly habits of many major manufacturers.

Interest in organic and natural products has increased over the last decade. Because legitimately green growing and natural processing practices are usually more costly than conventional methods, natural often means more expensive. The promise of easy money makes this an area where you might not be getting what you pay for unless you're careful to look beyond the label for answers.

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