Petroleum Common in Some 'Green' Products

What if you were told that the "all natural" or "plant-derived" eco-friendly cleaning products you purchase aren't what they claim to be?

Would you still buy them?

Seventh Generation, a company thriving in the eco-friendly market, reports that some "green" cleaning products are still heavily derived from petroleum. The project, presented at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, emphasizes the lack of standards in commercial markets for "green" products.

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At this point, no authority regulates eco-friendly claims, two representatives of the company say. Seventh Generation wants to change this by creating a system -- much like carbon dating -- through which companies can measure carbon isotopes in their products and establish standards more in line with what ad departments are promoting.

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Based on the company's testing, laundry detergents, hand dish liquids and hand washing soaps claiming to be friendly to the environment still contain between 3 and 57 percent petroleum-derived carbon.

But this range among companies wasn't what concerned scientists as much as the lack of carbon-14, an isotope that serves as a signature for natural, renewable resources. Other forms of carbon derived from petroleum can be identified in the form of petrochemicals.

Some products tested contained less than 50 percent of carbon-14, indicating the lack of natural, renewable materials used in their creation.

In a press conference video, the company's representatives gave no indication of which brands were studied and focused on promoting their technique rather than brand bashing.

Discovery News has contacted the company in efforts to find out which products were studied, but has not received a response yet.

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Findings aside, it's important to keep in mind that this study has not been peer-reviewed and was conducted by a company with an interest in the market.

Still, Seventh Generation representatives say they hope techniques used in the small study will inspire independent labs and other companies to standardize ways to measure plant-derived and petroleum-derived carbon in products.

As Cara Bondi, who presented the findings in the video, puts it: "We believe this is really an opportunity to align and move forward in a way that adds value to the consumer and to the industry."

UPDATE: Seventh Generation does not plan to release the names of products involved in the study. The company did, however, pay a third-party laboratory to examine the 22 products (instead of conducting the research in its own labs). Bondi, a senior research chemist with the company, says because there is no legal definitions or restrictions for labeling certain products as "green" or "sustainable," it's difficult to assess whether products are derived from renewable resources.

"We really need to start moving toward a unified understanding of what these terms mean and how we're talking about them," Bondi told Discovery News.

Photo: woodleywonderworks/Flickr.com