New Baby Product ‘White List’: Baby Cream, Balm / Ointment

Following last November’s ‘White List’ launch, World Green Organisation (WGO) is now announcing the newest baby product ‘White List’ for baby cream, balm/ ointment. WGO noticed that many products use labels such as ‘organic’, ‘natural’, and ‘no additives’ to advertise their products. However, there are no standardised regulations of what these labels actually entail. This means that consumers can sometimes be misguided in their purchase decisions.

The labels ‘organic’, ‘natural’, and ‘no additives/preservatives’ can sometimes be deceiving. Most people assume that these labels mean that the products contain no pesticides, chemicals, and toxic ingredients. However, this might not be the case. The labels ‘organic’, ‘natural’, and ‘no additives/preservatives’ have different definitions and regulations depending on where you are. This means that consumers should not fully trust these products as 100% safe.

In Hong Kong, there is no standardised governmental regulation on what ‘organic’ means. The ‘organic’ label and certification varies depending on where the product is produced. In the United States, products can be advertised using the ‘organic’ label when they contain at least 95% organic ingredients. If a product contains a minimum of 70% organic ingredients, they can be labelled ‘made with organic ingredients’ but cannot use the USDA Organic seal. The non-organic ingredients must fall under exemptions of the National List for them to be considered ‘organic’. Similarly, the EU organic label signifies that at least 95% of the ingredients used are organic since 5% is considered an acceptable error margin.  China’s regulation also states that products must contain at least 95% organic ingredients to use the national ‘organic’ certification. Although these regulations seem similar, there are slight differences in the details of their regulation. In addition, all of these regulations only look at whether the ingredients are organic. It does not require the producers to remove hazardous natural ingredients. In other words, although having ‘organic’ ingredients is safer, it does not guarantee 100% safety.

The label ‘no additives’ can also be misleading. When a product is labelled with ‘no additives’, most people assume that the product will be completely free of chemicals and synthetic ingredients. However, this label merely means that the product does not contain any preservatives. Companies may substitute preservatives for other ingredients such as alcohol to obtain the same effect. These substitutes can sometimes be more harmful than the preservatives for the user. Just like the ‘organic’ label, ‘no additives’ does not mean the product is free of all bad ingredients. Companies often use these misleading labels as an advertising strategy and should not be 100% trusted.

Another example of a misleading label is ‘all natural’. In the United States, the FDA only states that the product cannot contained ‘added colours, artificial flavours, or synthetic substances’. This description can be very subjective and open to interpretation. There are many natural substances such as poisonous mushrooms that are not good for the human body. Toxins occur naturally in the world. Estrogen is produced naturally. Both of these have been proven to be harmful.  In addition to this, we only know what is harmful to us after it has been tested. This takes a lot of time and money. There are still a lot of unknown chemicals in the market. This means that even though products may use all these labels, it does not guarantee 100% safety.

Many other countries are one step ahead in ensuring product safety for consumers by regulating these labels. In contrast, Hong Kong does not have any federal guidelines of what ‘no additives’, ‘all natural’, or ‘organic’ mean. Hong Kong’s regulations on these labels are governed only by the Trade Descriptions Ordinance and cannot be blindly trusted.

In an earlier report by the Consumer Council, many products in Hong Kong may contain Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) such as 3 benzophenone, 4 benzophenone, parabens, cyclopentasiloxane, ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate, ethyl 4 methoxycinnamate, and cyclomethicone. The World Health Organisation has associated these chemicals with development disorders, reproductive problems, respiratory issues, and cancer in humans. A build-up of these chemicals will also affect the hormones and genetics of animals and destroy the ecosystem. Many countries such as Taiwan[1] and the EU have confirmed several EDCs that are now banned. Hong Kong must also follow suit and realise the importance of banning EDCs in their products.

Dr. William Yu, Chief Executive Officer of WGO

Dr. Szeto King Ho, Medical Director and CEO of Hong Kong Emergency Medicine

There are a lot of talks about genetically modifications or nuclear radiation. However, there is not enough talk about the very big threat of estrogen and EDCs

said Dr. William Yu, Chief Executive Officer of WGO.

We hope that through this program, people will be more aware of this problem so that we can safeguard the health of the people and environment.

From the medical point of view, it does not matter whether a product has the ‘organic’, ‘no ad-ditives’, or ‘all natural’ labels. These labels do not affect a doctor’s decision to prescribe certain products to consumers

said Dr. Szeto King Ho, Medical Director and CEO of Hong Kong Emergency Medicine.

World Green Organisation has launched New Baby Product ‘White List’: Baby Cream, Balm/ OintmentPress

Celebrity mother, Angie Mak

Celebrity mother, Angie Mak comments,

As parents, we really worry about our children’s safety. We don’t want our children to be guinea pigs. However, it is so difficult to find all the information you need. Even if the information is on the packaging, it is hard to understand. In addition, there aren’t many safety reports that focus solely on baby products. That is why I am so happy that WGO is an-nouncing this safety report that parents like me can refer to when buying for baby products.

In this project, WGO commissioned three internationally recognised laboratories to test product samples from seven major retailers [2]. All products must go through a ‘three defence methodology’ to ensure con-sumer safety. This methodology includes biological testing which quantifies the amount of estrogen in the product, chemical analysis which measures the level of heavy metals, methanol, and formaldehyde inside the product, and ingredient checking which looks for banned ingredients using four international guideline databases (For more information about the methodology, please see Appendix I). Other reports regarding product safety only uses ingredient screening and chemical testing. Our ‘three-defence meth-odology’ sets a higher safety standard as it uses biological along with chemical and ingredient checking tests.

As mentioned before, WGO is announcing the latest baby product ‘White List’ for baby cream, balm/ ointment (please refer to Appendix II for the ‘White List’). This is a three-year project that covers different product categories. The objective of this project is to educate consumers on the most up-to-date product safety standards and incentivise manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers to pursue higher standards.

About Us

The World Green Organisation (WGO) is an independent non-governmental organisation concerned with environmental conservation and environmentally related livelihood and economic affairs. Through science-based policy research and community projects, the WGO aims to enhance the quality of the environment, promote a greener economy, and improve people’s livelihoods. In particular, it will focus on the social concerns of underprivileged groups and on the creation of a green economy to help realise its vision of sustainable development. For more information, please visit http://www.thewgo.org/.

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