A growing number of Americans whose health has been damaged by chemicals found in mainstream home-care products now shop for detergents, cleansers, etc., whose ingredients they understand and feel confident using. And yet, according to the Natural and Nutritional Products Industry Center, “until now, there was no standard definition of the term “natural’ used by the home care industry”.
Fortunately, the Natural Products Association (NPA) has now extended its natural seal and standard to include home-care products, a move to ensure their quality, ingredient integrity and label accuracy. According to a statement from the NPA: “Under the new program, products must follow strict guidelines set out by the NPA to merit bearing the seal. The criteria include but are not limited to:
- Product must be made up of at least 95 percent truly natural ingredients or ingredients that are derived from natural sources, excluding water
- No ingredients with any suspected human health risks
- No processes that significantly or adversely alter the natural ingredients
- Ingredients that come from a purposeful, natural source (flora, fauna, mineral)
- Processes that are minimal and don’t use synthetic/harsh chemicals
- Non-natural ingredients only when viable natural alternative ingredients are unavailable and only when there are absolutely no suspected potential human health risks
- Transparency and full disclosure of ingredients
“The full set of criteria can be found on the Natural Products Association website.”