Green suits may increse in popularity

Greenwashing ,the practice of promoting a product as being significantly better for the environment than it may in fact be has been a recognized problem for sometime .The Guardian UK has a regular column dedicated to highlighting greenwash claims that companies may make.Many public interest,and private groups offer ratings for green assessments of companies and products.
The NASDAQ has a green energy index and some major chemical and nuclear power companies are calling themselves “green”. It isn’t of course easy being green but it’s even more difficult to actually tell what really is truly a green product
A recent study by the environmental marketing firm TerraChoice ,pinpoints three areas of consumer goods with the greatest level of greenwashing: children products, cosmetics, and cleaning products. In all three cases, marketers manipulate a consumer’s safety concerns and fears by capitalizing on the supposed health and safety benefits of “green” living. TerraChoice, found 98 per cent of North American products labeled as environmentally friendly are "greenwashed,”.

Now the misrepresentation and perhaps mislabeling has spilled over into the courts according to a law journal online. They note that during the past year an increase in law suits involving greenwashing claims is not seen as a surprise given the number of products claiming green credentials.Everything from cars, detergent cleaners and cell phones are passing as green. One expert says that the Federal Trade Commission is looking at the practice (greenwashing) and is expected to publish this year a "green guide" outlining exactly what constitutes a "green" product. "It's in the public's conscience now, it’s new. It's exciting."
Consumer plaintiffs and environmental groups have caught on, lawyers warn. "This is the beginning of what may be an explosion in these kinds of cases," said patent attorney Eric Lane of the Del Mar, Calif., office of San Diego-based Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps, who runs the Green Patent Blog and tracks greenwashing litigation. "This is a hot area of false advertising."
What is in this stuff,anyway? Public safety groups are filing suits to find out what ingredients are in products and find out if any dangerous chemical are being used despite claims of being green.A voluntary ingredient-disclosure initiative by the cleaning product industry is scheduled to start in January 2010.In the meantime............

Michelle Radecki, general counsel of the Washington-based Soap and Detergent Association, said the activists' right-to-know lawsuit is unfounded and ignores an ongoing initiative by the industry to offer more information than ever before about cleaning products. "We believe that the activists are misinterpreting state law and that their threats are counterproductive," Radecki said in a statement. "The cleaning product industry's ingredient communication initiative goes beyond any law on the books in providing meaningful information

TerraChoice