The first organic standard for beauty products in the US has been launched this week with backing from 30 companies, including make-up giants Aveda, Estee Lauder and L’Oreal.
US sales of organic beauty products neared an estimated $9bn (£4.5bn) last year, representing a 15 per cent share of the personal care market. However, with no standard means of measuring or verifying a product's organic content the sector has faced accusations of "greenwash" from some environmental groups.
The new Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards (OASIS) group aims to tackle the problem with the launch of a new OASIS label that will only be carried by products with a minimum of 85 per cent organic content.
The group said the proportion of organic content for OASIS-labelled products would climb to 90 per cent from January 2010, before rising again to 95 per cent two years later. A second label, claiming a product is "made with organic" , will also be available for products that have a minimum of 70 per cent organic content.
The group said it hoped the standard would become an internationally recognised label accepted outside the US.
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