By Stacy Malkan

You might expect a shampoo labeled “pure, natural and organic” to be, well, pure, natural and organic. So you may have been shocked — and not a little ticked off — to learn that many of your favorite natural body care products contain a nasty petrochemical linked to cancer.

The bad news broke in March at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, California, with the release of product tests that found 1,4 dioxane, a probable human carcinogen, in 46 out of 100 personal care products marketed as “organic” or “natural,” including top-selling brands such as JASON Pure Natural & Organic, Giovanni Organic and Nature’s Gate Organics. The tests were conducted by author David Steinman and the non-profit organization Organic Consumers Association (OCA).
The timing of the release — in the midst of the world’s largest natural-products trade show — was no doubt calculated for maximum splash to capture the industry’s attention. That it did. And the waves haven’t stopped since.

After the press conference, lawyers for Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps — makers of products that tested clean of 1,4 dioxane (and financial backers of the tests conducted by Steinman and OCA) — threatened legal action against several companies. After discussions ended in a stalemate, Dr. Bronner’s filed lawsuits in April against 10 manufacturers and three organic certifiers for their use of alleged “fraudulent organic claims.”

In May, the California Attorney General’s office filed suit against four manufacturers of products that tested highest for 1,4-dioxane, for failing to warn consumers about exposure to a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer, as required by the state’s Proposition 65 law (see sidebar).
Two separate questions are swirling in the tempest: Should “natural” body care products contain toxic petrochemicals? And how organic should “organic” personal care products really be? Opinions are aligned on the first question and run the gamut on the second. But one thing is certain: the storm that has been brewing behind the scenes in the natural products industry for years is now out in the open, forcing manufacturers to confront some difficult issues that will define the future of the burgeoning $15 billion industry.