FocusGreen guarantees not in the seal

12 June 2008 18:37  [Source: ICIS news]

By Doris de Guzman

NEW YORK (ICIS news)--Third party certifications and logos do not always guarantee product safety or environmental superiority, trade officials for US consumer product manufacturers' groups said on Thursday.

Officials from the Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) and the Consumer Specialty Products Association (CSPA) are concerned that adding labels and seals to consumer packaging won’t necessarily translate into the health and safety claims touted by targeted marketing schemes, they said.

“We are particularly concerned with seals or logos that communicate a general claim of environmental preferability with no means for the consumer to learn the environmental benefits that form the basis for that claim,” Michelle Radecki, general counsel and secretary for the SDA, said.

She added: “It is essential that organisations and companies that use eco-seals and logos provide specificity with regard to the attributes that cause them to endorse the products and be held to the same standards for substantiation as other general benefit claims.”

A single authoritative certification would eliminate confusion in the marketplace, CSPA spokeswoman Gretchen Schaefer said.

“It should not be assumed that a green product is safer than a non-green product. Each certification has a different interpretation of what defines green,” Schaefer said.

Both organizations recently filed comments to the US Federal Trade Commission regarding the agency’s plan to revise its decade-old Environmental Marketing Claims guidelines, through a series of public workshops.

The most recent workshop, held in April, examined green packaging claims. The next workshop will be held on July 15, which will examine developments in environmental claims for building and textiles.

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Author: Doris de Guzman
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