Click here to view the original article
By Rebecca Clarren
There are more than 300 eco-labels out there, and not all are created equal. Official-looking seals created by industry groups can be misleading. Reassuring claims may be based solely on the manufacturer’s word. And some feel-good terms are so broad as to be meaningless. Below, we peel back some common eco-labels and rate them: Green means clean, yellow is okay, and red means buyer beware.
GREEN: Best of the bunch
YELLOW: Better than nothing
RED: Virtually meaningless
FOOD/ORGANICS
Green: Biodynamic Demeter’s standard for “beyond organic” biodynamic food and wine requires biodiversity and zero pesticides on farms.
Green: 100% Organic The real deal for produce and packaged food.
Green: Certified Organic Confusingly uses the same logo as 100% Organic and applies only to packaged foods and wine. Contents can be no more than 5% nonorganic.
Yellow: Food Alliance Requires farms to avoid GMO veggies or livestock, but they can still use pesticides.
Yellow: “Made with organic ingredients” The label that gave us (thank God) organic Oreos. USDA requires products’ total contents to be at least 70% organic.
Red: “Natural” USDA-approved “natural” meat doesn’t contain artificial flavoring, preservatives, or synthetic ingredients. But “natural” steak can still have antibiotics and hormones.
Red: “No additives” Implies a product doesn’t have ingredients like Red No. 40 or MSG. Or not—the maker decides what it means.
Red: “Hormone free” Bull. Producers can call beef “hormone free” even if it contains hormones such as testosterone. By law, pork and poultry must be hormone free anyway.
ANIMAL CRUELTY
Green: Certified Humane Raised & Handled Meat came from an animal that lived a happy (as far as we know) life with space to move around.
Green: Leaping Bunny Cocreated by the Humane Society, this label is for cosmetics and cleaners without ingredients tested on animals.
Red: “Cruelty free” No set standards.
Red: “Free range” No set standards for beef, pork, or eggs. The USDA lets poultry producers make this claim if chickens have “access” to the outdoors for 51% of their lives, not if they actually go out.
BIODEGRADABILITY
Green: Certified Biodegradable Soaps and cleaners with this third-party-certified label won’t hurt fish and will break down quickly.
Green: Compostable This label for eco-plastics adheres to stringent scientific guidelines.
Red: “Biodegradable” Under FTC rules, biodegradable products must “return to nature” when left to the elements. No one enforces this overly broad standard.
FISH/SEAFOOD
Green: Marine Stewardship Council For seafood that isn’t endangered or overfished. The only real eco-label for fish.
Yellow: Dolphin Safe Tuna Means dolphins aren’t dying in tuna nets. But sea turtles, sharks, and other endangered species might be.
WOOD & PAPER
Green: Forest Stewardship Council Created by enviros, loggers, and consumers, this independently certified label requires timber and paper companies to monitor their supply chain.
Yellow: Sustainable Forestry Initiative Wood and paper come from forests where trees are replanted. Developed by a trade group, the label allows clearcutting and pesticides.
FLOWERS
Green: VeriFlora For flowers grown with good labor practices, without heavy-duty chemicals, on farms that are going organic. Certified by one of the best third-party investigators.
Green: Fair Trade Certified Flowers come from farms that pay good wages and help with health care and housing. Farms are encouraged but not required to avoid toxic chemicals.
Yellow: FlorVerde A mixed bouquet. Created by a Colombian trade group, FlorVerde lets growers use toxic pesticides. It requires better hours, wages, and working conditions—but not as aggressively as Fair Trade does.
ENERGY
Green: Energy Star Appliances and electronics with this EPA label are the most efficient.
Green: Green-e Marketplace This badge identifies companies that get their electricity from renewable sources.
Yellow: Carbonfree Doesn’t mean a product is CO2 neutral, only that its maker bought offsets.
OTHER
Red: “Hypoallergenic” Created by cosmetics advertisers in the 1950s, it has no set meaning or standards.
Red: “Fragrance free” Means only that a product doesn’t have a noticeable scent; it could still include chemicals that cover up odors.
Red: “Nontoxic” Won’t kill your kids if they ingest it, but might contain chemicals that can cause serious health problems.
Red: “Earth smart”/”Green”/”Nature’s friend” Meaningless.
Mother Jones: Is Your Eco-Label Lying?
Posted: November 27, 2009 by Certified Humane
Click here to view the original article
By Rebecca Clarren
There are more than 300 eco-labels out there, and not all are created equal. Official-looking seals created by industry groups can be misleading. Reassuring claims may be based solely on the manufacturer’s word. And some feel-good terms are so broad as to be meaningless. Below, we peel back some common eco-labels and rate them: Green means clean, yellow is okay, and red means buyer beware.
GREEN: Best of the bunch
YELLOW: Better than nothing
RED: Virtually meaningless
FOOD/ORGANICS
Green: Biodynamic Demeter’s standard for “beyond organic” biodynamic food and wine requires biodiversity and zero pesticides on farms.
Green: 100% Organic The real deal for produce and packaged food.
Green: Certified Organic Confusingly uses the same logo as 100% Organic and applies only to packaged foods and wine. Contents can be no more than 5% nonorganic.
Yellow: Food Alliance Requires farms to avoid GMO veggies or livestock, but they can still use pesticides.
Yellow: “Made with organic ingredients” The label that gave us (thank God) organic Oreos. USDA requires products’ total contents to be at least 70% organic.
Red: “Natural” USDA-approved “natural” meat doesn’t contain artificial flavoring, preservatives, or synthetic ingredients. But “natural” steak can still have antibiotics and hormones.
Red: “No additives” Implies a product doesn’t have ingredients like Red No. 40 or MSG. Or not—the maker decides what it means.
Red: “Hormone free” Bull. Producers can call beef “hormone free” even if it contains hormones such as testosterone. By law, pork and poultry must be hormone free anyway.
ANIMAL CRUELTY
Green: Certified Humane Raised & Handled Meat came from an animal that lived a happy (as far as we know) life with space to move around.
Green: Leaping Bunny Cocreated by the Humane Society, this label is for cosmetics and cleaners without ingredients tested on animals.
Red: “Cruelty free” No set standards.
Red: “Free range” No set standards for beef, pork, or eggs. The USDA lets poultry producers make this claim if chickens have “access” to the outdoors for 51% of their lives, not if they actually go out.
BIODEGRADABILITY
Green: Certified Biodegradable Soaps and cleaners with this third-party-certified label won’t hurt fish and will break down quickly.
Green: Compostable This label for eco-plastics adheres to stringent scientific guidelines.
Red: “Biodegradable” Under FTC rules, biodegradable products must “return to nature” when left to the elements. No one enforces this overly broad standard.
FISH/SEAFOOD
Green: Marine Stewardship Council For seafood that isn’t endangered or overfished. The only real eco-label for fish.
Yellow: Dolphin Safe Tuna Means dolphins aren’t dying in tuna nets. But sea turtles, sharks, and other endangered species might be.
WOOD & PAPER
Green: Forest Stewardship Council Created by enviros, loggers, and consumers, this independently certified label requires timber and paper companies to monitor their supply chain.
Yellow: Sustainable Forestry Initiative Wood and paper come from forests where trees are replanted. Developed by a trade group, the label allows clearcutting and pesticides.
FLOWERS
Green: VeriFlora For flowers grown with good labor practices, without heavy-duty chemicals, on farms that are going organic. Certified by one of the best third-party investigators.
Green: Fair Trade Certified Flowers come from farms that pay good wages and help with health care and housing. Farms are encouraged but not required to avoid toxic chemicals.
Yellow: FlorVerde A mixed bouquet. Created by a Colombian trade group, FlorVerde lets growers use toxic pesticides. It requires better hours, wages, and working conditions—but not as aggressively as Fair Trade does.
ENERGY
Green: Energy Star Appliances and electronics with this EPA label are the most efficient.
Green: Green-e Marketplace This badge identifies companies that get their electricity from renewable sources.
Yellow: Carbonfree Doesn’t mean a product is CO2 neutral, only that its maker bought offsets.
OTHER
Red: “Hypoallergenic” Created by cosmetics advertisers in the 1950s, it has no set meaning or standards.
Red: “Fragrance free” Means only that a product doesn’t have a noticeable scent; it could still include chemicals that cover up odors.
Red: “Nontoxic” Won’t kill your kids if they ingest it, but might contain chemicals that can cause serious health problems.
Red: “Earth smart”/”Green”/”Nature’s friend” Meaningless.
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