I have just attended a conference on Cosmos organized by ICEA in Bologna, Italy (Cosmos is the harmonised private standard for organic and natural beauty products in Europe). They were sharing the final principles and guidelines for raw materials and how to apply for the products. I do not really want to go into the details of that and I would like to focus on the fact that the standard will allow some "imperfections", ie unnatural choices, which are:
-maximum 2% petrochemicals in the total formulation (this will only be allowed for a few years to give time to some companies to update their formulations without these petrochemicals)
-radiation of clay (this is because heat would not be suitable to reduce its microbial count)
-hydrogenated ingredients (they can contain Nickel residues and also their chemical structure differ from the non hydrogenated version)
As a cosmetic chemist I understand the reasons behind this strategy, however when I pointed out how the consumer would know that an organic/natural certified beauty product may contain 2% petrochemicals the answer I was given was: it is up to the consumer to find out.
How can they? when
1- they do not expect petrochemicals in organic/natural products
2- they have no technical background to spot the synthetic chemicals in disguise.
3- radiation is not even declared on the label
I think Cosmos could be more open with consumers about its technical choices, explaining the reasons in a simple way, so that people with the purity priority can decide and choose a petrochemical free beauty product (after all they ask raw materials manufacturers great transparency, why not giving the same trsansparency to consumers?). If I were a consumer with no technical background I would expect transparency and simplicity from the certification systems I rely on, because organic and natural is not not only about purity of physical content, but also of ethical content, therefore transparent and clear communication....
