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FTC cracks down on misleading “natural” claims
Interesting story here.
I wonder how the FDA defines “natural”. Bottom line: Don’t advertise your products as “all natural” or “100% natural” if you are including synthetic ingredients. -
7 Replies
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In addition to that, I wish they’d crack down on companies that claim their products are “Vegan” and “Cruelty Free” when they are loaded with synthetics. Technically, yes, they are “Vegan”, but that is a dubious claim.
It’s the marketing equivalent of claiming that your Orange Juice is “Gasoline Free” -
“Cruelty free” is for the most part a marketing tool. The “Leaping Bunny” seal can be used if each Raw material supplier provides a “Free From Animal Testing” declaration usually on letterhead. Many of the suppliers have them already supplied. Honestly, in doing the leg work to get this certification for clients, I have only had one solitary material not have a “Free from Animal Testing” letter available. Colate the letters, the TDS’s, the MSDS’s and then pay their fee. You get to use the seal and they also list your product in their list of Leaping Bunny Certified products.
There is no real link between “Cruelty Free” and the source (petroleum, plant, synthetic).
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The thing about “cruelty free” is that it is an arbitrary claim. While the Leaping Bunny folks have their standards those are not official and they may fall short of what some people consider cruel. For example, one could argue that pretty much ANY plant derived material cannot be cruelty free. How many mice & insects were killed during the harvesting of the plants that were used to make the products? That’s hardly cruelty free. Where does the FTC decide the line is for what constitutes “cruelty free”?
Natural is the same way. It could be argued that everything is natural since there has never been anything proven to be super-natural. Synthetic ingredients can only be produced because of existing natural chemical reactions. I’m very curious to see what the FTC uses as their definition for natural. How can they say something like Petrolatum is not natural when it comes right from the ground? How can they say Dimethicone is any less natural than something like Sodium Cocoyl Sulfate? -
*wry grin*
It is ludicrous. Not that the great FDA makes much more in the way of sense either. -
Unless they adopt either a regulatory or judicial definition of “natural”, there cannot be due process of law in a “crackdown”. “I don’t know what the speed limit is, but you were over it”?
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Never understood all the “all natural” hype anyway. Ask any exterminator, he’ll wear a small mask to cover his nose and mouth when using synthetic sprays but a full suit w/ respirator when using “natural” ones
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All I can think is that these people have REALLY bad lawyers.
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