ALKALINE SUBSTANCES:

Alkaline substances are often used in skin and hair care products to neutralize excess amounts of acid within a product. A common alkali used in such a way is ammonium chloride, which has been cited to cause skin rashes. This substance is also used in the making of fire extinguishers.

ARTIFICIAL FRAGRANCES:

Over the past century, success in reproducing the natural aromas in the form of synthetic fragrances has today formed an industry in itself. It is important to understand that the chemicals easily invade the body through inhalation and not only through what we eat. When we consider that a fragrance can represent a cocktail of up to 200 chemicals, all personal care items that contain artificial fragrances are nothing short of a recipe for disaster. Why then are they used? Cost is the primary reason. To cite a simple example, the natural rose oil can cost thousands of dollars per kilogram, whereas a low quality chemical substitute can be added at less than 1% of the price.

MINERAL PHOSPHATES:

Home use products such as shampoos and cleaning products account for almost 30% of phosphates in our sewerage system. Phosphates strongly contribute to the outbreak of the highly toxic blue green algae, a substance that is poisoning our waterways and killing marine life. Toxic blue green algae is 10 times more lethal than strychnine and 200 times more lethal than cyanide.

ADDED ENZYMES:

Enzymes are protein molecules that maintain the life process within a living organism. Unfortunately the crude industrial methods that are prevalent nowadays such as intensive heat treatments often render a product lifeless. As a consequence, enzymes need to be added to generate a rebirth for the product. It could be dangerous to allow a substance to enter the human body in a lifeless form, as it has not been created to handle such an event. For example, the junkfood that we are often persuaded to eat would be rather difficult to eat if it were not treated with added enzymes prior to our consumption, used to aid our bodies to digest the 'junkfood'. We are very proud to say Organic Trader Canada Skin, Body and Hair Care require no added enzymes, as all of our products contain the life force that can be found in nature itself.

BLEACHING AND BRIGHTENING CHEMICALS:

Bleaching and brightening chemicals have little or no place in an effective home care product. They are used simply as a marketing tool to highlight (brighteners) or remove (bleaches) colours in order to persuade the consumer that they have purchased a superior product. The most common bleaches are chlorine and peroxide, each having its own destructive effect on the environment and our health.

FILLERS:

As the word suggests, fillers are used to add size or weight to a product to give a 'value for money' impression. Organic Trader Canada refuses to make such concessions and is committed to supplying people with effective products rather than persuasive appearances.

TAR DERIVATIVES:

Coal tar is used to seal wooden light poles, to make roadways and to derive artificial colouring agents. Coal tar has been used for the last 60 years in many of

ARTIFICIAL COLOURS:

Colours are another in a long line of chemicals witnessed in modern society that are fundamentally used to attract more consumer dollars and nothing more. Often such constituents as FD & C yellow or FD & C green could be used to make a product appear as though it contained the natural ingredients of honey or seaweed for example. Two examples are FD & C blue No.1 which has been shown to cause tumours in animals and FD & C red no.40 which is made from carcinogenic substances. Practises that Organic Trader Canada strongly disagrees with.

How to Buy with Confidence ?

Organic Trader Canada has been a strong supporter of the Organic & Natural movement to define the term natural organic personal care. Consumer confidence in the term "natural" has suffered over the years because of its rampant misuse by manufacturers. To address this problem we are working to define the border between natural personal care products and other products. We have created a specific, formulated a set of internal, business guidelines to which products must comply in order to be, what we consider the ultimate in true business sustainability, a standard called: EcoStar Green-TM. In the future we will provide the process for manufacturers to submit their nominated products to an independent laboratory for analysis. If the lab results comply with our guidelines, the product may receive the EcoStar Green-TM Sustainable Seal... and consumers will have won a little bit more ground in the quest for authentic natural and organic products.

There is the Option to Choose ‘Cruelty Free’ Accredited

Choose Cruelty Free aims to make people aware of their power, as consumers, to change attitudes about testing products on animals. Organic Trader Canada products are certified by PETA. This encourages manufacturers and service providers to adopt a cruelty-free ethic, and to survey companies which claim to sell products that have not been tested on animals and do not contain cruelly-derived. As you read this little article thousands of plants and animals are being driven to extinction, Dr. Edward O. Wilson, a biologist at Harvard University, estimates that 27,000 species per year or three per hour are becoming extinct. We share this planet with many other living creations. Organic Trader Canada blends its products without animal derivatives, has not and never will be tested on animals... well, maybe just ourselves.

More Unacceptable Ingredients list

trimethylsiloxysilicate

trisodium EDTA / tetrasodium EDTA

tromethamine stearate

tropolone

urea

vanillin

Wheatgermamidopropyl