Two New Tools to Help You Make Better Product Choices

As citizens committed to making choices that do the most good and least harm to ourselves, other people, animals and the planet, it's often challenging to determine which, if any, available products fulfill that criteria. Here are two new tools that can help you with making product choices.

Erik Assadourian over at WorldWatch provides a great overview of the forthcoming U.S. Federal Trade Commission's updates to the "Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims," or "Green Guides." (Check out a 2-page summary of the proposed revisions here.) These guidelines, while not a super-effective tool (they have to be enforced to be truly effective), at least provide a basic standard for helping reduce the amount of greenwashing that companies engage in. In addition to clarifying terms like "compostable," "recyclable," and "free of," the guide also addresses claims relating to renewable materials and energy, as well as carbon offsets.

There's no guarantee that, once these new guidelines are in place, companies will follow them. But, it's a good reminder to us to use caution when purchasing products based on these labels and to think critically about what those labels mean and dig deeper to discover the details.


Another new tool is the "What's on my food?" searchable database (also available as a mobile app) from the Pesticide Action Network (PAN). The database offers data about types and levels of pesticides on different food products. Take blueberries, for example. If I look at the data there, I discover that the USDA Pesticide Data Program has detected 52 different pesticides residues on blueberries. The data results then tell me which pesticides, how often and to what degree each has been found (for both conventional and organic, domestic and imported), what type of toxicity is involved, and on what other foods each pesticide has been detected. I can also click through to find more details about the pesticide (though the data on this companion site isn't as well organized).

There are at least two drawbacks to this database. First, it could be easy for the general citizen to see all the pesticides listed and panic. Cranberries have been found with traces of hormone disruptors? Oh my gosh! Wait, what does that mean? Anyone using this database should do so with a thoughtful and critical eye: What exactly does this data mean? How does this translate to what I find at my grocery store? And so on. Second, the site doesn't offer many positive alternatives (other than to sign up to get more information from PAN). For those concerned about levels of pesticides on your food, check out the Environmental Working Group's "shopper's guide" to buying produce for suggestions.

Add both these tools to your most good, least harm kit to help ease the challenge of finding healthier, humane choices.

~ Marsha

"Ecotainer" cup image courtesy of Kingstonist.com via Creative Commons.

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