Organic Labels Coming Off Cosmetics & Lotions

If you want a lotion, soap or lip balm free of chemicals and synthetics, you'd have to read the fine print. The Agriculture Department is taking its round, green "USDA Organic" label off personal care products and cosmetics. When it created the seal in 2002, the primary intent was to certify the organic claims made by food producers, such as that meat came from animals raised without antibiotics and not confined indoors, or that vegetables were grown without pesticides.

But the department also opened the door to making a wide range of other products eligible for the label: cosmetics and personal care items, pet food, dietary supplements, textiles like cotton T-shirts and fish. Three years later, the department decided it had gone too far. In April, it began telling companies their cosmetics and other personal care products can't be government-certified as organic, after all. Many producers of organic cosmetic products are upset with the USDA's policy flip-flop. :: Washington Post