What "green" or "organic" companies do you avoid?

[MrsMike]

I know people avoid Horizon because they are questionable. What other companies that claim to be green or organic do you avoid? Why?

[janasmama]

barbara's Bakery (found in most health food stores) isn't really that great. I can't name them off hand but they put some crappy ingredients in their food.

I'm always iffy of the mainstream brands that pop up with some organic label. I like to stick with eating seasonal veggies and buying them from our wonderful local farm, we buy grass fed beef from the same farm that some friends of ours raises and then I have my main brands that I buy like EnviroKids cereal or Kashi, Cascadian Farms, etc.

[urchin_grey]

Oh no, what's wrong with Horizon?

Personally, I'm not a fan of Method. I got all excited when I heard they were making a baby care line but they went and put SLS in everything. :

[Vancouver Mommy]

If you look into the corporate "families" of most of the natural/organic brands you will find that the vast majority of them are owned by enormous mainstream pesticide lovin', gmo promoting food companies that are full of trans fats and high fructose corn syrup.

[AngelBee]

:

[pokeyrin]

Originally Posted by Vancouver Mommy

If you look into the corporate "families" of most of the natural/organic brands you will find that the vast majority of them are owned by enormous mainstream pesticide lovin', gmo promoting food companies that are full of trans fats and high fructose corn syrup.

Completely agree Vancouver Mommy, it's rather astounding to realize that it's quite difficult to purchase anything without it being owned by some corporate giant. I really try to support local and small businesses whenever I can.

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but here's a site I came across awhile ago if you want to know who owns who:

http://www.cornucopia.org/images/Who...ChartAug06.pdf :

And if you're worried about what goes in your food, make sure you read, read, read labels. Even some companies that are supposed to be organic and natural still put poo-poo stuff in their foods.

If you're interested in a company's track record when it comes to being environmentally and socially responsible, Co-op America's website also gives you a report on many large companies http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/

I recently found out that Burt's Bees was bought by The Clorox Company : and so I'm giving them up.

[Parthenia]

While I don't think they're bad in any sense, I avoid Frontier, because I can get pretty much everything they sell from a locally owned herb shop, where the herbs are fresher, and I get to hang out with the owner and chat.

Rule of thumb for me is I'll buy it from a locally owned place first.

[koru]

Burt's Bees was recently bought out by Clorox. I don't know much about the Clorox company but I can only imagine. Anyone have the scoop on Clorox? I've used Burt's Bees on all 3 of my kids & the smell of their lotion brings back so many memories....but I'm probably switching when this last bottle runs out. Tell me something wonderful about Clorox so I don't have to!

[sunny*pa*mom]

Originally Posted by pokeyrin

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but here's a site I came across awhile ago if you want to know who owns who:

http://www.cornucopia.org/images/Who...ChartAug06.pdf :

Great link, thanks. We are finding the only way to be comfortable with our food is to eat whole and local. Now I need to research my health products...

[askew]

Hain Celestial owns everyone it seems. They seem to own all the brands I use regularly. I see from the chart that they have a strategic alliance with Heinz. I wonder what that actually means.

[stretchmark]

Wow, that chart really makes me want to go even more local!

I avoid seeds of change and horizon.

[guestmama9924]

I avoid companies that prey on environmentalist standards but are really just abusers such as the 'Sea Pearl' ( the killing of sponges to stuff up your yoni... people. Anyone who sells those is also off my list which is sad because Glad Rags WAS my favorite company!!

[kewb]

I avoid Horizen. I no longer buy Burts Bees or Toms of Maine.

[kapatasana]

Cascadian farms. Owned by general mills (I believe correct me if I'm wrong), but the main reason I avoid is I just don't like the taste/quality of their products.

[utopia760]

OH MY GOSH thos &%^*^$

[jadekat]

Thanks for the link. Subbing

[xekomaya]

Originally Posted by kapatasana

Cascadian farms. Owned by general mills (I believe correct me if I'm wrong), but the main reason I avoid is I just don't like the taste/quality of their products.

yep the are, I avoid them too.. but I do love their honey o's :-x Also Tom's b/c of their SLS, except DH loves their deodorant and thats the most natural one he'll use. Also Method - which is sad since its so available, but they don't really disclose their ingredients, & have some questionable things including fragrance.

[pokeyrin]

Originally Posted by sunny*pa*mom

Great link, thanks. We are finding the only way to be comfortable with our food is to eat whole and local. Now I need to research my health products...

I completely agree that the only way to be comfortable is to eat whole and local. We just joined a local CSA that starts this June and I am really excited about it.

[pokeyrin]

By the way I almost forgot.

There is also the Enviromental Working Group's cosmetic safety database: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1

Do make sure you read through the all the ingredients of a product you are looking up and just don't take a low hazard rating at face value. Certain ingredients you may not like having in your products may be considered a low hazard.

Interestingly quite a few of Burt's Bees products ranked higher on hazards due to fragrance and natural unspecified flavors they stick in their products. And there are definitely certain Burt's products I just can't use because of the strong fragrance.

[CameronsMama]

Originally Posted by koru

Burt's Bees was recently bought out by Clorox. I don't know much about the Clorox company but I can only imagine. Anyone have the scoop on Clorox? I've used Burt's Bees on all 3 of my kids & the smell of their lotion brings back so many memories....but I'm probably switching when this last bottle runs out. Tell me something wonderful about Clorox so I don't have to!

I don't think there is anything wonderful about clorox. I'm pretty sure there isn't even enything decent we could say about Clorox. It's so sad to see these huge monster corporations eating up the smaller good companies- rumor has it most of them (Burt's Bees, Tom's, etc) were bullied into selling, too!