September, 20 2012, 11:03am EDT
Organic Consumers Calls on Natural Products Association to Stop Putting their 'Natural' Seal on Products that Contain GMOs
The OCA Launches National Petition to Stop NPA Consumer Fraud
FINLAND, Minn.
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) today launched a national alert on behalf of consumers asking the Natural Products Association (NPA) to amend its certification process for its NPA Natural Seal to exclude any and all genetically modified ingredients.
"The NPA advertises itself as working on behalf of consumers who want to purchase products that they believe are safe and authentically natural," said Ronnie Cummins, Executive Director of the OCA. "Yet nowhere in its personal care products certification process does the NPA screen for genetically modified ingredients, and nowhere on these products is there a label that says 'may contain genetically modified ingredients'. This is an outright act of consumer fraud."
On its website, the NPA states: "The NPA Natural Standard is based on natural ingredients, safety, responsibility and sustainability." The website further states: "A product labeled 'natural' should be made up of only, or at least almost only, natural ingredients and be manufactured with appropriate processes to maintain ingredient purity."
The NPA website provides a list of ingredients approved under the personal care products NPA Natural Seal certification process. Nowhere on that list is there any indication that the NPA differentiates between GMO and non-GMO ingredients.
"The NPA profits off of retailers, whom it charges for this certification process," Cummins said. Worse yet, the NPA deceives consumers by leading them to believe that the products they buy, stamped with the NPA Natural Seal, are truly natural. There is nothing natural about GMOs."
The NPA recently came out publicly against Prop 37, the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act, despite claiming that it supports the consumer's right to know. Some of the NPA's members' parent companies, including DuPont, BASF, Bayer, have contributed millions to the NO on 37 campaign.
The OCA urges all consumers to sign the letter to key representatives of the NPA.
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots 501(c)3 nonprofit public interest organization, and the only organization in the U.S. focused exclusively on promoting the views and interests of the nation's estimated 50 million consumers of organically and socially responsibly produced food and other products. OCA educates and advocates on behalf of organic consumers, engages consumers in marketplace pressure campaigns, and works to advance sound food and farming policy through grassroots lobbying. We address crucial issues around food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability, including pesticide use, and other food- and agriculture-related topics.
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