Is it 'organic' or only water?

Kevin Diaz
Star Tribune Washington ?Bureau Correspondent
Published 02/19/2004

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A common ingredient in an array of organic shampoos, soaps and lotions in the United States is a fragrant plant extract distilled on the Bayliss Ranch in northern California.

The company calls its latest botanical product Allplant Essence, a water-soluble extract that is a "100 percent match to nature."

But a Minnesota-based consumer group calls it just plain water.

In a complaint filed Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Organic Consumer Association charged that the Bayliss Ranch and a private California certifier, Quality Assurance International, are illegally counting ordinary water as "organic."

Bayliss Ranch says its Allplant Essence is essentially different from a clear, distilled liquid -- called "hydrosol" -- that is being challenged.

"Unfortunately, these people have been unable to understand the science we've been giving them for three years," said Bayliss Ranch founder Donna Bayliss. "The hydrosol issue they're addressing is not us."

Bayliss said her products are made of naturally grown ingredients, and she welcomes a government review.

The Bayliss Ranch Web site says that finished products using its Allplant Essence extract "may be promoted as containing the whole plant essence in a bottle."

The dispute pits stores and manufacturers in the multibillion-dollar natural products industry against each other in a debate over what can be labeled "organic."

The Organic Consumer Association, based in Little Marais, Minn., says Bayliss Ranch's claims allow its customers -- makers of health and beauty products -- to bill their wares as 70 percent organic.

Among Bayliss' largest customers: Avalon Natural Products, Jason and Nature's Gate.

Avalon spokesman Mark Egide said he hopes the dispute might lead to a government definition of what can be labeled organic. "We want the term 'organic' to have the same teeth that it has in the food industry," he said. "We're for whatever the Agriculture Department decides."

The Consumer Association, which claims to represent 325 companies in the "natural" marketplace, is challenging Bayliss' plant extracts under the USDA's National Organic Program, which recognizes the certifications by Quality Assurance International.

The Consumer Association previously has filed a complaint with the California Health Department.

"It's a fraud," said Adam Eidinger, a Consumer Association spokesman. "If you spend $7 on a bottle of shampoo, as opposed to the $4 brand, you expect it to be of a certain quality. Instead, it's just water."

Bayliss told the Associated Press recently, "We're taking what's in the blossom [of a flower] and turning it into a liquid. It looks like water, but it isn't."

Kevin Diaz is at kdiaz@mcclatchydc.com.