ColumnThere may be no greater consumer concern than what products we use on our children—particularly when they’re brand new. But trusting brands can be a challenge. They all seem to tell us they’re the best; that they completely understand us, honestly. Do they? This month, Behind the Label takes a look at Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company products for babies and children. How safe and healthy are they?

Actress and mom Jessica Alba launched the Honest Company in 2012 after starting a family. “When I became a mom, I finally became the person I am, that I always should have been,” she says on the company’s website. “It’s the most satisfying job in the world. But, it can also be overwhelming and confusing. I created The Honest Company to help moms and to give all children a better, safer start.” The Honest Company sells a wide range of baby products from toys and diapers to sunscreen and toothpaste all geared for children throughout the stages of young lives.

Alba partnered with Christopher Gavigan to create The Honest Company. Gavigan is a father of three and the former CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World, a national nonprofit empowering parents to protect their children from toxic risks. He’s also a best-selling author promoting healthy families. “Everything I stand for and all I’ve done over the last 15 years has come to this moment,” he says of The Honest Company. “I’m thrilled to launch a brand that offers some of the most thoughtfully designed, innovative, and safest products available.”

The Good

According to the company’s website, The Honest Company aims to make a positive impact for families and the planet. There are strict standards including creating a culture of honesty, creating inspiring and beautiful products that outperform and “exceed expectations.” The brand values its “incredible” customer service that it believes can build “a deeper level of trust.” It prides itself on “accessibility”—membership programs and direct delivery of products right to customers’ doors to make choosing healthy options easier. And for families, the ease of knowing more products are always coming can be a relief from the stresses of shopping.

The Honest Company’s detailed Health & Sustainability Standards outline values when it comes to making “an amazing product without harming people or the planet.” The company explains that it feels a “tremendous responsibility” to the planet and takes steps to create new solutions, reduce impact, cause no unnecessary harm, and make products that are “as non-toxic and healthy as possible.”

Social giving is a core principle for The Honest Company as well. “We are committed to both individual and corporate social responsibility – taking selfless actions that benefit others,” the website states. “This includes charitable partnerships, working with advocates on promoting policy changes that better protect our children and planet, and supporting the efforts of our employees with paid community service days and direct matches of non-profit donations.” Jessica Alba’s profile says she is “actively involved with charities such as Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, ONE, Habitat for Humanity, Project HOME and more.”

The Honest products, namely diapers, are better for the environment than conventional options because they’re not bleached with chlorine, which is energy intensive and damaging to the environment, not to mention those delicate baby bottoms. Honest says its diapers are also hypoallergenic and fragrance-free, which can be especially important for a super sensitive child.

Products like the Honest shampoo/body wash for little ones are promoted as being tear-free. Like all of the Honest personal care products, this is plant-based, hypoallergenic, biodegradable and gentle-on-the-skin. The website states the shampoo/body wash is free of: “SLS, sulfates, parabens, phthalates, fragrances, dyes, sodium chloride, formaldehyde, MEA, DEA, TEA, petrochemicals & most common allergens.”

The Bad

Ultimately, what it comes down to is whether or not the products are really safe for babies. Some of the personal care products do contain sodium benzoate, which in combination with other ingredients, has been connected to cancer risks.

The Honest Company’s toothpaste came under fire by the Cornucopia Institute for use of carrageenan—a known carcinogen. Cornucopia explains on its website, “There is simply no way around it: dozens of scientific, peer-reviewed studies used food-grade carrageenan and found it caused gastrointestinal inflammation, ulcerations, lesions and even colon cancer in laboratory animals.”

The brand also uses cocamidopropyl betaine, which the Environmental Working Group gives a “moderate” risk rating. It’s a synthetic surfactant that’s been associated with irritation and contact dermatitis, EWG’s website notes. Probably not something you want on delicate baby skin. Some products also contain phenoxyethanol, a preservative that also gets near moderate risk rating from the EWG for skin, eye and lung irritation and potential damage to non-reproductive organs.

The popular Honest diapers are a source of controversy, too. While they may be much cleaner and greener than the conventional counterparts like Pampers, they do still contain sodium polyacrylate, a gelling agent that the EWG lists as a low to moderate risk to non-reproductive organs. Some parents report cases of chemical burns on babies who’ve worn disposable diapers because of the sodium polyacrylate in them. It’s so common in diapers (even the natural kind) that the only real way to avoid it is by using cloth diapers.

The Questionable

While the brand says social giving is a core principle, there’s little info on the website to support its efforts. The “Giving Back” tab is surprisingly slim on content, but states “with every product you purchase, The Honest Company donates product, money, time, and effort to addressing critical health & social issues affecting children and families.” With such a statement, you’d think there would be ample examples of social efforts; but no donations or charities are mentioned. (We did find a blog entry on the site from March 3^rd detailing a partnership with the Garden School Foundation.)

And further questions about the company’s character surfaced after The Honest Toddler blog was reportedly threatened by The Honest Company, urging the account to change its name and delete its Twitter and Facebook page because of trademark infringement on the “honest” label. The Honest Toddler reported on its Facebook page: “Last year Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company interviewed me. Today they asked me to delete this Facebook page, my Twitter and blog because they feel like you might get a natural infant’s products company and satirical toddler confused. They say I should just do it because “it could get costly” for me.”

Trademarks are tricky things, and while The Honest Company may be fully within their legal right to pressure the blog about the conflict, it really does seem trite to try and monopolize the market on honest-child-related names. (And as of press time, The Honest Toddler Facebook page was thriving and promoting a book release…)

As to the investment of Honest diapers, the touchstone product of the brand, Slate reports that despite not being as effective at preventing leaks as other diapers (BabyGearLab reportedly tested them), they’re considerably more costly: “[A] bundle of 276 of their size 1 diapers and 280 wipes costs $79.95, but $66.98 will buy you the same number of Huggies size 1 diapers, along with 448 Huggies wipes, on Diapers.com.” If what you’re paying for instead of quality is honesty, hopefully you’re satisfied that the company is forthright.

The honest truth about The Honest Company is that while some products may be cleaner or more effective than others on the market, some aren’t. If you like the subscription model for diapers, it could be an effective choice for your family’s needs. If, however, you prefer purer products at different price points, you may be best served to consider more options.

Is there a brand you’d like us to investigate? Send your Behind the Label suggestions to jill [at] ecosalon [dot] com.

Find Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

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Images: (top) shingleback, all others via The Honest Company

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There are few things as important to new parents as The Diaper.

While you may use organic cotton diapers on your baby at home, it’s not always practical in other settings. The disposable diaper is a convenient feat of modern science—and it’s traditionally been quite a caustic one, too.

Acrylate, the chemical used in the superabsorbent material in diapers, is toxic and produced en masse: billions of tons every year go into diapers (and eventually landfills). Made from propylene (from crude oil) the problem is that acrylate forms a polymer that resists breaking down, leaving them a toxic nightmare in landfills, leaching into waterways and the air, causing pollution and health problems.

But, there may be good news as scientists at Brown University have discovered a new way to produce the chemical with carbon dioxide and an acid, in essence taking a harmful greenhouse gas abundant in the environment, and turning it into a less harmful substance that will eventually go back to the landfill and…well, you probably get the picture, right? A low-impact production cycle that reuses its own byproduct…now that’s novelty.

Published in the journal Organometallics lead researcher chemist Wesley Bernskoetter used chemicals known as Lewis acids in creating the acrylate substance by opening the five-atom ring of oxygen, nickel and three carbon atoms in the molecule. It has proven so successful that scientists are hopeful that it could be scaled up to produce acrylate in industrial settings.

While there are no plans as of yet to produce diapers using the new technology, Bernskoetter is hopeful that it could happen relatively soon. But if you simply can’t wait until then to have a baby, look for environmentally-friendly disposable diaper options at your local health-minded shop.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Image: Carbon NYC

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In the U.S alone, 18 billion pounds of dirty diapers are sent to landfills on a weekly basis, and each diaper takes up to 500 years to biodegrade. In an effort to minimize the impact that disposable diaper products make on the environment, diaper companies are trying to create greener products that biodegrade more quickly, and that don’t contain harsh chemicals that leach into the earth.

We recently told you about baby wipes options that will help reduce your child’s bumprint, and in this post we’re taking a look at two hybrid diapering systems that are a cross between cloth and disposable diapers. These systems are an answer to the cloth diaper vs. disposable diaper debate, which is rife with questions.

The vast majority of parents want to stick with the convenience of disposables, while a growing number of eco-conscious consumers want to minimize their crappy contributions to the demise of the planet by opting for cloth diapers. (But some environmentalists blast the use of water to launder said cloth diapers). gDiapers and Charlie Banana are two diaper companies that are trying to find a happy medium: cloth diapers with the convenience of disposable diapers. Each diapering system features a disposable insert that is 100 percent biodegradable, and is designed to use in tandem with a cloth diaper.

gDiapers

gDiapers pioneered the hybrid diaper effort with their “no landfill required” tagline and their innovative design in which parents can “flush” the soiled insert component of their baby’s diapers. (But it’s important to note that some plumbing systems can’t tolerate the dissolve and flush aspect of the flushable inserts, and could cause damage). gRefills simply slide into the outer gPants diaper covers. The gRefills are made of sustainably farmed wood fluff pulp, with sodium polyacrylate (SAP) for absorbency, and cellulose rayon. They are plastic-free, biodegradable, and they contain no elemental chlorine or perfumes. Additionally, the wet (not poopy) gRefills inserts may be composted or simply tossed out after waste is flushed, where they will break down in 50-150 days.

If you’d like to make your diapering regimen an even deeper shade of green, gDiapers also offers gCloth inserts which are made of two layers of soft 100 percent polyester microfleece, and are washable, reusable, and require no folding since they are specially designed to fit right into the gPants.

This video demonstrates how quickly gDiapers biodegradable inserts dissolve into the earth, in comparison to their disposable counterparts.

gDiapers “New Baby Bundle” starter kit is $149.99

Poised to make their debut on the diapering scene, Charlie Banana boasts a 2-in-1 reusable diaper that also offers the option of choosing between a reusable or a disposable insert, secured inside a cloth diaper cover. When I asked a representative for Charlie Banana about the flushable aspect of their 100 percent biodegradable disposable inserts, here is the reply she gave:

“Charlie Banana recommends the biodegradable insert (made of wood pulp) be thrown in the trash. They recommend you shake the solid first and then trash it. You do have the option of flushing it, but they recommend you tear the insert into a few pieces and then flush… however flushing it may do more harm to the pipe/plumbing and the sewer plant than it does good.”

Charlie Banana cloth diaper covers come in a wide range of colors and prints which may be seen here. The collection is expected to hit the market next month. For up to date news on their launch and availability, check the Charlie Banana website.

Charlie Banana also donates one percent of all sales worldwide to Operation Smile, so you can feel good knowing that you’re not only helping to lessen your diapering impact on the planet, you’re also contributing to another worthy cause!

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