Monday, August 9, 2010

Turning Label Reading into a Nightmare



If you've been keeping up with my blog, you've read about ingredient labels (as they are right now), and about my opposition to the SCA (a bill currently proposed in the US). If you haven't been keeping up with my blog, have a look at those posts if you aren't already up-to-date with industry standards for labeling bath & body products and aren't aware of the SCA.



Today I wanted to show you what labels will look like if the SCA bill passes. The bill requires that trace elements be listed on every label. So for example, water on a label would look like this: "Aqua, Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Nickel, Silver, Zinc" (and depending on where you live, you'd also have to include caffeine, oral contraceptives and antibiotics in your water labeling requirement).



A bit over kill for "water" don't you think? ... and that's just ONE ingredient. Let's look at a product that has very few ingredients and see what the label for it would look like under the SCA.



For a lotion bar that contains Cocoa Buter, Olive Oil and Lavender Essential Oil, the label would go from having these 3 ingredients to looking like this:


Ingredients: Olive Oil (Tri-Glycerides of Palmitic, Di-Glycerides of Palmitic, Palmitoleic, Stearic, Oleic, Linoleic, Arachidic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Squalene, Beta Carotene, Campesterol, Methylenecholesterol, Stigmasterol, Sitosterol, Fucosterol, 28-Isofucosterol, Stigmadienol, Brassicasterol, 7-Cholestenol,Ergostadienol, Avenasterol, Triterpene Alcohols, Tirucallol, Taraxerol, Dammaradienol Beta-Amyrin Germanicol, Butyrospermol, Parkeol, Cycloartenol, Tirucalladienol, 24-Methlene 24-Dihydroparkeol, 24-Methlenecycloartanol, Cyclobranol, 4-Methyl Sterols, Esters of Tyrosol, Esters of Hydroxytyrosol, Vitamin E (Tocopherols), Carotenoids, Oleuropein) Cocoa Butter (Tri and Diglycerides of Stearic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Lead, Oleic Acid, Linoleic Acid, Isoleic Acid, Beta Carotene, p-Hydroxybenzoic Acid, Vanillic Acid, Ferulic Acid, Syringic Acid, Phenylehtylamine, Theophylline, Aliphatic Esters, Aromatic Carbonyls, Caffeine, Theobromine, Diketopiperazines and Alkylpryazines), Lavender Essential Oil ( Cineole Octanol, Octanone, Alpha Bisabolol, Alpha Cadinol, Alpha Humelene, Alpha Phellandrene, Apha Pinene, Alpha Terpinene, Alpha Terpineol, Alpha Terpinyl Acetate, Alpha Thujene, Alpha Thujone, Beta Bisabolol, Beta Pinene, Beta Thujone, Borneol, Bornyl Acetate, Camphene Camphor, Cineolealpha Terpineol, Carvone, Caryophyllene, Carophyllene Oxide, CIS Alpha Terpineol, CIS Alpha Bisabolene, CIS Carveol, CIA Linalol Epoxide, CIS Ocimene, Citronellal, Citronellol, Coumarine, Cuminaldehyde, Eugenol, Furfural, Geraniol, Geranyl Acetate, Geranyl Butyrate, Hexanol, Hexyl Tiglate, Isoborneol, Lavandulol, Lavandulyl Acetate, Limonene, Linanlol, Linalyl Acetate, Methyl Heptenone, Myrcene, Nerol, Neryl Acetate, Oleanolic Acid, P Cymene, Rosemarinic Acid, Sabinen, Terpinenol, Terpinolene, Trans Carveol, Trans Epoxy Linalyl Acetate, Trans Linanol Epoxide, Trans Ocimene, Ursolic Acid)





Now THAT'S over kill!!! Not only is this ridiculous, but having all those trace elements listed makes it a lot harder to quickly figure out what is in the lotion bar (note that the 3 basic ingredients wouldn't be bolded like they are above). Can you imagine reading through ALL those trace elements for this simple lotion bar? Now imagine what a label would look like for a product that has a lot more ingredients like my body butter! That would take up more room that I have on my blog! And I can't imagine trying to make a label for that... I would have to attach a booklet or scroll to the packaging!



The labeling issue is just one of the many problems with the proposed SCA. I've shared the other issues in a previous post and I invite you to have a look at it.



If you feel the way I do about this bill, please sign the petition and let the lawmakers know that you don't support a bill with so many problems!



Sign the petition opposing the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010

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