Guardian UK: American shoppers misled by greenwash, Congress told

[marmar]

American shoppers misled by greenwash, Congress told
98% of supposedly environmentally friendly products in US supermarkets make false or confusing claims, campaigners say

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 21 June 2009


More than 98% of supposedly natural and environmentally friendly products on US supermarket shelves are making potentially false or misleading claims, Congress has been told. And 22% of products making green claims bear an environmental badge that has no inherent meaning, said Scot Case, of the environmental consulting firm TerraChoice.

The study of nearly 4,000 consumer products found "greenwashing" in nearly every product category – from a lack of verifiable information to outright lies.

Even the experts are confused. Case, whose firm runs its own Ecologo certification programme, admitted he had bought a refrigerator only to find it failed to meet its claims of energy efficiency.

"My refrigerator used twice as much energy as advertised," he told members of the House of Representatives committee on commerce, trade and consumer protection. The hearing amounted to a crash course into the perils of the new green marketplace for the committee. Congress is looking at how to guide consumers through a thicket of competing claims on so-called greenness.

One problem is proliferation – both of products claiming to be green and of certification programmes purporting to back up those claims. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/21/green-environment-ecology-congress-us-supermarkets

[MADem]

1. And they get those suckers for all that fake green bullshit, too!

Whole Foods is the worst offender...IMO. Twice as much for shitty, shrivelled produce? No thanks!