All opinions expressed below are my own, and are that, MY opinion.
It was recently brought to my attention that Ava Anderson Non-Toxic (AANT) has reformulated the products that contained Geogard Ultra as a preservative, and replaced it with radish root ferment. This is without a doubt great news in my book! Less families being exposed to sodium benzoate in multiple products daily is fabulous, especially since many didn’t realize they were being exposed to it as the name Geogard Ultra didn’t truthfully disclose the 2 ingredients being used (sodium benzoate & gluconolactone). So, time to move them back to my best-of-the-best list, right? No. In the past year or so, numerous issues have come up with these products that I have a great deal of mistrust in them: the products, the labels, and the company. I’m not going to repeat the allegations, which would make a very long list, as there’s a chance some of them are not true, and I don’t want to slander anyone without having proof of said allegations. I can tell you the allegations are numerous, concerning, and I do happen to believe many of them. So, what are the facts? Most recently this issue arose which really, really bothers me: they launched a line of essential oils & claimed they were certified organic. Immediately I, and many others, commented on their wall asking how this was possible, here’s how that played out:
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RemoveAva Anderson Non Toxic Hi Jessica, we do not have the USDA certification on our products but all of our organic ingredients have always been certified! smile emoticon -
RemoveAva Anderson Non Toxic We chose not to have the seal on our products as it is very expensive and really all it gets you is lots of paperwork, it also doesn’t require 100% of ingredients to be safe so we have seen multiple cases of products with the seal that we would not use or recommend and therefore we always go back to “at Ava Anderson, it’s all about the ingredients” happy to answer any other questions you have! smile emoticon
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RemoveAva Anderson Non Toxic http://tilth.org oregon tilth is one of our certifiers of our organic ingredients smile emoticon
OK. I could go on & on about this issue, their response is infuriating. They are NOT certified by the Oregon Tilth, or any other certifying body. It’s an outright lie. They’re willing to let the companies they purchase from go through the expense & paperwork to be certified, but they themselves don’t feel it worth it. You know how much it would cost them to get certified? Without knowing exactly what they make each year, by all accounts it’s millions of dollars, the CAP for companies making $5,000,000+ is $10,500. You’re telling me that’s considered expensive to a multi-million dollar company? One whose owners are independently wealthy to boot? As I said, I could go on & on. To make a long story short, several people asked about who their certifier was. Every, single comment raising any question about this issue was hidden or deleted. I’ve also been told by former Ava reps that even internally, in their closed private groups any question regarding ingredient sources, the lack of organic certification, etc are immediately removed. Without the USDA certification, there is NO guarantee whatsoever that they’re using the best organic ingredients on the market, or that they’re even organic at all. There’s NO oversight without that certification.
Update on Essential Oil issue, I was right, they were in violation of the USDA regulations: 12/2015: https://ecofriendlymamausa.com/2015/12/15/ava-anderson-their-not-so-certified-organic-eos/
Past issues that lead to me being wary of their claims: Many felt their diaper cream contained zinc oxide, but the label didn’t list it. Turns out eventually they did come out & say “oops, yes, there is zinc oxide in there, but don’t worry, it’s just a small amount”, and then they added it to the label. Of course since they don’t make the products themselves they were able to pin it on the manufacturer & take no personal responsibility whatsoever. Why does this matter: What if your child was deathly allergic to zinc oxide, Zinc oxide is not cloth diaper safe, as it repels water, and we as the consumer have the right to know every, single ingredient in our products. So, this is where the trust issue comes into play. As with the CA baby reformulation scandal (Google the term if you’re unfamiliar with that), once something like this happens, my trust in the company & products is lost forever, and CA Baby will forever remain on my Greenwashers list due to that.
The company says they can’t afford to become certified organic, even though the Anderson’s are an independently wealthy family not in this for them money (relayed to me by Ava’s Mom Kim when we still had open lines of communication), just in it to make the world a better place. They have posted erroneous info on their FB page in the past trying to degrade the USDA certified label, until being called out on their mistruths & removing the posts. I’ve received several messages from people telling me they heard from an Ava rep that only 60% organic ingredients are needed for the USDA label, and that’s what Poofy uses, where AANT uses 100% organic ingredients, they just don’t feel the need for certification. This is all COMPLETELY wrong, and it seriously irritates me that such lies are being spread. There are much, much smaller lines on my best-of-the-best list that have made it a priority, and are affording it. I, and many others believe AANT could never become certified organic as several of the products are not truthfully disclosing what is honestly, actually in them, many of the ingredient lists just don’t add up. And this is not just my opinion, this has been expressed to me by many different sources, many who are making their own similar products and are extremely knowledgeable about ingredients & what it takes to make a product work. After reading thousands of ingredient labels myself, I agree, things like the bubble bath, dish soap just don’t add up to being the effective product many rave about. Many have alleged there’s no way they’re using Essential Oils as the labels state. I’ve heard from certified aromatherapists who share the opinion that the products contain synthetic fragrance oils.
I really, honestly think someday these products will be tested and, just like the diaper cream, be found to contain additional ingredients not listed. If I had the time or knowledge how to go about initiating this process myself, I would love to. I know there are many of you who love this line, and think it’s all it says it is. I know many will feel I have some grudge against these products, some ulterior motive, and that is not the case, but I understand why you might think that, and that’s OK with me. I have nothing to gain by where they fall on my list, just my own ethics & morals to protect. I have several lines on my “best” list that are not certified organic: Fiddlebump’s, Josiah’s Oils, MamaSuds, Simply Rustic, all of which are Work-from-home-Mom operations, and although they are using almost exclusively organic ingredients, I would never expect them to become certified. But, a line like Ava Anderson has absolutely no excuse not to, unless they have something to hide, which I believe they do. Please, prove me wrong, get your line certified, and you’ll move up to my Best-of-the-Best list. The fact that their products are NOT certified organic, and are twice as much as many products that ARE certified is secondary, if you are willing to pay twice as much, that’s up to you. Which line IS certified organic? Poofy Organics. Truly the best of the very best on the market, certified by the USDA, with absolutely no ingredients of concern. Please, do yourself & your family a favor & ask some serious questions, and do some comparing of the 2 lines, I’m pretty certain you’ll come to the same conclusions I have. Here are several past threads, if you have a few hours to spare reading all the comments, I think they’ll help shed light on my position. I hope this all makes sense, and I hope to be proven wrong.
Additional info I hope you’ll take the time to read, from a different source:
https://gogreenct.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/my-fda-complaint-against-ava-anderson-nontoxic/
******If interested in joining me selling a USDA CERTIFIED organic, affordable line with 400+ products that I have 100% trust & faith in, please read this. I share it here because many of you who read the above info are looking to work from home selling a line you can have 100% faith in, and in my option, that is NOT Ava Anderson, so I think it’s only fair to provide an alternative: https://ecofriendlymamausa.com/2014/07/16/ready-to-work-from-home-join-team-eco-poofy-usa/
Eco-Friendly Mama: Safe product recommendations with a focus on organic and Made in USA! 