Greenwashers may be subject to increasing litigation
June 19, 2009 by DawnM
Filed under Greenwashing, Organic Industry
Greenwashing cosmetics companies face lawsuits
Greenwashers beware. According to an article published in a legal journal greenwashing brands may increasingly face litigation. Lawyers Victoria Davis Lockard and Josh Becker from US firm Alston & Bird warn that eco-fraud is ‘the latest flavor of consumer product class litigation’ – lawsuits where multiple plaintiffs take action against a product that has failed to deliver on its advertising claims.
Lockard and Becker claim that not only may the courts be more sympathetic to an environmental cause than exaggerated efficacy claims, but the plaintiffs in eco-fraud cases will have powerful allies in the form of environmental watchdogs and public interest groups, such as Greenpeace.
It’s not just disgruntled consumers that file class actions but also competitors, regulators and public prosecutors. In 2008 Dr Bronner’s Magic Soaps filed a lawsuit in the California Superior Court against a variety of brands marketed as ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ because their claims were misleading . Brands singled out included Jasons, Avalon, Nature’s Gate, Kiss My Face, Juice “Organics”, Giovanni, Desert Essence, Ikove, Estee Lauder, Stella McCartney’s CARE, Ecocert (organic standards) and OASIS standards.
Many of these brands make natural or organic claims but use petrochemical ingredients, such as sodium myreth sulphate (made in part with the carcinogen ethylene oxide), cocamidopropyl betaine (made with non-organic material combined with the petrochemical amidopropyl betaine), olefin sulphonate (a pure petrochemical) and various other synthetic ingredients.
