Are organic beauty products really organic?

The organic health and beauty industry is one such area that warrants closer inspection. Unlike food and drink items that must be certified before they can be labelled organic and sold as such, non-food items, including personal care products and cosmetics, are not subject to the same legislation. As a result the actual organic content of beauty products can vary enormously, sometimes making up less than 1 per cent of an item’s total formulation. The message to consumers is clear: do your homework, read the ingredients list and don’t assume a product labelled organic is necessarily free from synthetic chemicals.

Even the often-quoted studies that link certain chemicals to specific health concerns, such as parabens to breast cancer and sodium lauryl sulphate to eye damage in children, have yet to be proved conclusively — although this may be due to a lack of fundingfor research.

But for the organic convert the scientific specifics are almost by the by. That there is any possible risk to our individual health or the environment from commonly used chemicals in cosmetics is enough of a reason to cut them out of their lives.