Beauty industry heavyweights L’Oreal, Estee Lauder and Aveda are part of a 30-member industry group supporting the first U.S. organic standard for the industry.
The Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards (OASIS) group, says the beauty industry has suffered in recent years from customer confusion over organic product claims.
In absence of a true industry standard, companies attempted to apply the USDA NOP (National Organic Program) Organic food standard for beauty and personal care ingredients and products, OASIS said. But the USDA’s food standards were never designed for this industry, and posed significant challenges for those seeking to create certified organic products.
The OASIS standard will require 85% certified organic content–which OASIS said will likely increase as "green chemistry" continues to evolve.
ECOCERT is the current prevailing European standard and its certification is predicated on a minimum of 10% certified organic content.
OASIS said it the Organic Standard is the first of several standards (i.e., packaging) that OASIS plans to create to support and protect organic and sustainable consumer goods. It also said it will take an active roll in the development of an industry standard at the international level.
According to Nutrition Business Journal, the organic beauty and personal care industry has been growing rapidly, at 15% for the past 15 years. At the end of 2007, US sales of organic personal care products approached $9 billion representing approximately 15% of the personal care market.
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