To put it simply, labels are confusing. Companies put things on labels for two reasons. The first reason is that they are legally required to reveal their ingredients. The second, and more important reason that companies label their products, is to try to get you to buy them. Companies exist to make a profit, and that profit comes from consumers. So, they spend a lot of time and money figuring out what to put on their labels to get you to buy them. With the green revolution in full swing, companies all around the country (and world) are putting stuff on labels that will urge green consumers to buy them. But what do these claims mean?
A lot of companies are advertising their products as "biocompatible". This term doesn't really mean anything, even though it suggests that living organisms can tolerate the product. There is no independent body that certifies biocompatibility. So, it really doesn't hold any value. Companies also have been labeling their products as vegetarian or vegan. These labels imply that the products don't contain any animal-derived ingredients, but that may not be the case. Similarly, a product could, hypothetically, have vegan ingredients, but also have been tested on animals.
Another popular claim companies are putting on labels is "biodegradable". This implies that a given product should break down when exposed to air, moisture, bacteria or other natural organisms. The problem, though, is that a product may be hypothetically biodegradable but not actually biodegradable. For example, one company is advertising biodegradable plastic bags. The bags in question do degrade under laboratory conditions in which the bags were placed under an intense, artificial light for months at a time. At the end of the test period, the bags showed signs of the beginning of the biodegradation process. However, in a landfill, waste is buried under other trash and soil, so a bag wouldn't receive sufficient sunlight to actually hold the claim.
"Cruelty-free" is a term found on many labels. Some companies label their products as cruelty-free, but the products are actually tested on animals. Basically, they're able to do this because they hire third-party laboratories to test the products, so they argue that their own company does not test their products on animals.
If you want to make sure that you know what's in the product you're about to buy, EnviroCitizen.org suggests that your best bet is to go with something that is certified. If it's certified organic by a legitimate, third-party organization, you know that it's more than a marketing term. |
