WISING UP TO “GREENWASHING”

WHAT is “greenwashing” you ask? Greenwashing is the practice of misleading consumers by using words like “organic” and “natural” on products, making good use of the many loopholes in the booming cosmetic industry.

And it’s big business. You see, technically, companies can use the words natural and organic, if one of the ingredients is natural or organic. And even those words are up for interpretation.

Technically heavy metals are “organic” as they are from the earth. Do you want lead and aluminium in your bodies?

Organic does not mean certified organic, and natural is a very loose term.

Companies have cottoned on to the fact that consumers are now looking for cleaner, more sustainable, cruelty-free and environmentally friendly products.

Companies manipulate the system (the cosmetics industry is selfregulated!) and manoeuvre loopholes like Olympic gymnasts, all in the name of the bottom line, not your health or the health of our environment.

Remember that everything we use to clean and cover our bodies in eventually ends up going down the sink, literally.

Eventually polluting our waterways, not to mention the plastic packaging.

How do you know what’s really organic?

Simple, look for the Australian certified organic logo on your packaging. When you see this, you can be assured that all ingredients are certified organic, animal- and cruelty-free and environmentally friendly. Look for packaging that is either compostable or biodegradable (companies like Loving Earth and Love Tea do this to perfection; even the plastic wrapping that encases the chocolate and tea inside the cardboard packaging is plant-based and compostable).

Vote with your dollars and shop with your health in mind. Something that is cheap at the register costs us dearly down the track.

Toxins and chemicals used in everyday cosmetics and cleaners are known hormone disrupters.

There are massive links with plastics and chemical use and application with the development of PCOS and endometriosis.

Plastics are phytoestrogens, they mimic our natural estrogen so closely that is behaves the same way in our bodies.

Our skin is a sponge. Say that again and think about it; 70 per cent of what we apply to or expose our skin to is directly absorbed into your blood stream. We may as well drink it. But we wouldn’t. So why apply it to our body’s largest detoxification organ?

Don’t let big companies pull the wool over your eyes. Choose certified organic wherever you can and feel safe knowing it is what nature intended.