President’s Choice Eco Green Products Aren’t So Green
Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2009 by Jen
Best said by Kermit the Frog, “It aint easy being green.” What does being green actually mean? Does it also mean good for you? natural? grown sustainably? traded fairly? socially responsible? pesticide free? not packaged in plastic? reducing waste?
It’s no secret that many companies have jumped on the green bandwagon. Every company out there has to have their piece of this market pie. Why not when every mother out there wants to trustingly take a big, huge bite? STOOOOP!!!! Don’t do it!
I hate to be doubting the intentions of every company out there but I feel as a mother it is my job. This is my family I am protecting after all.
I shop at Extra Foods (Canadian Superstore) most of the time. It is down the street from us so I like to walk there. I was thrilled when their President’s Choice brand introduced a new Eco Green line of products. Progress. Or at least I thought so.
I was looking for laundry detergent. Ordinarily I buy some from our wholesaler where we buy some of our diapers for Better Baby Bums, but I ran out in the midst of doing laundry left from our family vacation, all 7 loads of it. I was desperate. I picked up the PC Eco stuff and checked out the label. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. In my mind there wasn’t much green about it. Laden with chemicals that I wouldn’t even wash my dog’s bed with. What made it green according to them, you ask? The fact that it is highly concentrated so you use less and the packaging is smaller. Oh yeah, and you could use cold water. Are you kidding me?
While I praise Canada for finally implementing an excellent Organic Certification Program in June this year, why can’t they have something similar for cleaning and personal care products? Not everyone reads labels like I do. Nor do they have the knowledge to know what to look for. President’s Choice, in this case, it a trusted brand in these parts so why doubt them?
I know I’ve blogged about this a few times, but PLEASE read labels on anything that is supposedly a “green” or “natural” product. These terms are too often loosely thrown around. They don’t mean anything anymore. They quite obviously mean different things to different people. For me, “green” means good for the planet, good for my family. Thumbs down to President’s Choice. Shame on you Superstore for deceiving your customers who are trying to make healthy choices for their families. While your baby steps toward being a “green” company may be good enough for you (look at you patting yourselves on the back), they are NOT good enough for me. PS- there is no way that Chlorine Bleach can be Eco-Friendly. Who the heck is advising you people?
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Oeko-Tex Standard 100- safe fabrics
Posted on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 by bbb-admin
While I was shopping at Jysk today for Duvet Covers for my girls, a label I hadn’t seen b
efore caught my eye. It said, “Confidence in Textiles- Tested for harmful substances”. On a whim, and skeptical as always, I bought 2 duvets for my girls that sported this label. When I got home, I googled the label and up popped this website http://www.oeko-tex.com/OekoTex100_PUBLIC/index.asp?cls=02
Since 1992 this association has been existence, testing for harmful substances according to their standard, which is that the textile must not pose no risk whatsoever to health.
The criteria of the association provides uniform, scientifically founded evaluation standard for the human ecological safety of textiles. I found this to be particularly comforting given the issues surrounding the safety of products manufactured overseas.
The site lists all of the chemcials it tests for and the standards for different products. It also has a searchable database where you can look up sources of supply for textiles with this label. You can search for particular stores, items (baby wear, bedding etc), and brand names. I had some success with the database, however it wasn’t functioning quite right for me. I sent them an email about it.
Kudos to Jysk for carrying products with this label. It is always nice to have a store look out for your family’s best interest.
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