Hydrosols/Hydrolats vs Floral Waters - another wrinkle

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Organic Consumers Association Campaign Focuses on Truthful Labeling in Body

Care Products

 

HerbalGram. 2003;60:12 © American Botanical Council (Buy This Issue)

 

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) has launched its Coming Clean

campaign to draw attention to the practice of " watering down " body care

products that are labeled as organic.

 

The main point brought up by the campaign is the use of " flower water " or

" floral water " as a primary ingredient for products. This ingredient,

according to OCA, is simply water or steam derived from water that has had

flowers steeped in it, similar to the process in which tea is steeped in

water. Such water contains only minute amounts of organic substances, and

is a weak basis for claiming that a product is " organic " in nature, OCA

claimed in a recent release.

 

OCA contends that some companies use these waters in efforts to bypass

guidelines made by the National Organic Program stating that only products

with a non-water, non-salt weight of more than 70% can be labeled as

organic. By claiming that the " floral water " is organic, companies use an

" organic " label regardless of the presence of other ingredients of the

product, many or all of which may not qualify as organically produced under

current federal laws and industry standards.

 

Some of the substances in body care products that the OCA is concerned with

are those derived from petroleum and surfactants containing traces of the

highly toxic carcinogen, dioxin.

 

OCA defines organic cleansers as products made by simple and ecologically

friendly processes with certified organic materials and no petroleum

derivatives. Information on Coming Clean can be found at the campaign’s

website <www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare>.

 

–Sarah Jackson

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