USA: OCA calls for boycott of "cheater brands"

On September 24, 2009 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, thousands of personal care products that claim to be "organic" will be on display as retail store buyers from across the globe attend one of the most important natural products' trade shows of the year, OCA reports. This gathering will also mark the launch date of a new phase of the Coming Clean Campaign, led by the nation's largest organic consumer group, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), in support of the recommendation by the Certification, Accreditation, and Compliance Committee of the USDA National Organic Standards Board, "Solving the Problem of Mislabeled Organic Personal Care Products." The recommendation urges the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) to regulate personal care products as they do food in order to clean up rampant organic fraud in the personal care marketplace. The full NOSB Board will be considering and voting on this recommendation at its meeting in Washington in November.
 

To encourage USDA NOP enforcement of organic personal care, the OCA will launch a full scale consumer boycott of all brands falsely labeled as organic who do not contractually commit by October 26, 2009 to certification of their organic claims. The OCA will also conduct a full-scale 'buy-cott' of all responsible brands that already are certifying their organic label claims. Starting September 24, 2009 until October 26, 2009, the OCA will give all "organic cheater brands" the opportunity to contractually commit to certification of their organic claims in one year's time, by November 1, 2010, to the following standards, or drop those claims including the term "organics" in branding.

OCA