Updates - shampoo/conditioner, Hob Brite

The anti-dandruff shampoo and a couple of other palm oil free products (conditioner and dry skin moisturiser) I blogged about a few days ago have arrived from Health Monthly. The smell of them isn't unpleasant, very neutral (which means my husband won't moan about whiffing of girly-stuff like he does with some of the Lush soap I buy! But I wouldn't describe it as pleasant either.

Anyway, if the anti-dandruff shampoo works on Geoff and in the absence of a response from Proctor & Gamble, it will mean one less suspected product removed from our cupboards for good.

I chased P&G up a couple of weeks ago about Head & Shoulders shampoo as well as Fairy Liquid, Oil of Olay
and Flash One for All. If I don't get a reply soon, I think it's safe to assume they're ignoring me in the same way as Unilever are and therefore all those products will not be purchased again. Actually, whilst they've been delaying, I started buying Sainsbury's washing up liquid as they were really quick to let me know that it was palm oil free. I'm also using Little Satsuma's moisturiser on my face so if Proctor and Gamble are indeed ignoring me, I only really need to replace Flash One for All.

I chased up Reckitt Benckiser at the same time; they they have responded as follows:

Thank you for your e-mail.

I am waiting to hear from the relevant department so I can pass the correct information onto you Ms Doran.

As soon as I have an answer I will be in contact with you.

I'll let you know when they do.

On Hob Brite, I have received a further letter from Homecare Technology who make it.

Thank you for your recent letter in which you have listed the chemicals that can contain palm oil or are derived from palm oil.

The production staff has looked over the list to see which products are used here in our manufacturing plant and there are four items that we do purchase; none of which are used in Hob Brite

For your information they are:

Caprylyl glycol
Isopropyl
Mono-glycerides of fatty acids
Sodium Laureth Sulfate

So, it sounds as if Hob Brite may well be palm oil free. The reason I'm not 100% sure is that they have ignored the concern that I raised in my letter stating that if my list of euphemisms for palm oil/palm oil derivatives is not complete, there may be other suspect ingredients that are contained in Hob Brite that I'm just not aware of yet. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt though (as well as that, I haven't found anything else that does a good job except for Cif which Unilever won't tell me about).

Another problem of deforestation

This is a hilarious picture! The artist, whoever you are, deserves much credit for highlighting a serious problem in such a funny manner!

It came to me via one of those e-mail circulars that find their way round mailboxes.

I wish I knew who to credit with the copyright for the image; I wouldn't normally dream of using an image without permission but as I am spreading the word about the cause that s/he is highlighting and that must be the reason it was created, I am hoping they won't mind. Whoever are you, I applaud and admire your work!

Homecare response

Homecare Technology who make Hob Brite have sent a response to my enquiry:

Thank you for your letter dated 7 March regarding Palm Oil.

I have spoken with our production team and can confirm that we do not use Palm OIl in any of our products. The ingredients used in Hob Brite are sources from third party companies and as such we are not able to giveyou an unequivocal statement, but can say that as far as we are aware they are also free from Palm Oil.

Hope this information is helpful.

I'm afraid it isn't really because I don't know whether I can continue to use Hob Brite or not. I have written back to them giving them the long list of ingredients that may be palm oil derived and asking them to check their ingredients list and then ask the third parties.

I have pointed out that Sainsbury's and Tesco are both willing to provide unequivocal yes or no statements concerning palm oil in their own brand products and I am hopeful that Homecare Technology will be willing to do the same.

Anti-dandruff shampoo update

I have received a response from Body and Soul Health products (who make Hopes Relief products) saying that their anti-dandruff shampoo (recommended by Donna in the comments section on my last posting about anti-dandruff shampoo) saying that it doesn't contain palm oil. I have therefore ordered some from UK supplier Health Monthly. I've never heard of this company but they take PayPal so I've ordered some on-line. As I haven't had to give them my financial details, I'm willing to trust them for the cost of a bottle of shampoo.

I'll let you know how Geoff gets on with it.

No response yet from Proctor & Gamble or Reckitt Benckiser to my latest communications. I will chase them in a couple of days.

Greenpeace launch new palm oil campaign

Greenpeace launch new palm oil campaign today at Nestle head office

Proctor & Gamble reply

I have received a response from Proctor & Gamble which contains all the usual generalisations about sustainable palm oil and how they buy it. Worryingly, they only say most of their palm oil suppliers are members of the RSPO so I guess if they get caught with some that isn't they can say "oh yes, just that bit isn't sustainable".

I'm no great believer that palm oil can be grown sustainably anyway all the time demand continues to rise so much - where is the new palm oil going to come from to fuel the proposed EU increase from 5% to 10% in biofuels sustainability criteria?

All it means is that responsible companies will buy the sustainable palm oil, leaving the rest for those with no scruples. It's not good enough to pat ourselves on the back and say ours is sustainable so we don't have to worry about it anymore. It's unacceptable that the rainforest is continuing to decline even though every single company that I write to claims to either already be buying sustainable palm oil or will be doing by 2015. Rainforest is still disappearing. We have to raise our game if it's going to stop.

Anyway, the response from P&G is very similar to that of Reckitt Benckiser - no individual answers about the products I buy. They give me a website address and invite me to investigate the list ingredients to establish whether the products contain palm oil. I will write a similar response to P&G and hope that in the interests of customer services, they will be prepared to give me a yes or no for the products that I buy.

L'Occitane haven't replied to my e-mail so I've had to snail mailed them as well. If they would only reply using e-mail, it would save paper - I shouldn't have to send letters using paper in this day and age - for goodness sake, L'Occitane - join the 21st Century! Paper use is another cause of rainforest decline.

Do I sound irritated? That's because I am :-(

Sainsbury's household products

As I reported here, I wrote to Sainbsury's asking them about the palm oil content of all the household products that I thought I could buy from them to replace any ones that are already (or subsequently become) suspect. Here are the products I asked them about:

• Sainsbury’s Antibacterial Spray Cleaner
• Sainsbury’s Washing Up Liquid Lemon
• Sainsbury’s 2 in 1 Tablets Lavender and Jasmine (for clothes washing)
• Sainsbury’s Tablet Bio (for clothes washing)
• Sainsbury’s Tablets Non Bio (for clothes washing)
• Sainsbury’s Bathroom Cleaner Trigger Spray
• Sainsbury’s Oven Cleaner

I received a response in the post from Sainsbury's which happily informs me that none of these items contain palm oil or its derivatives.

I have looked again at the Reckitt Benckiser reply, basically, they have just given me a link to a site which lists the products they sell in the UK and you can find a list of ingredients for each one by drilling down. But it's up to me to check whether the ingredients are palm oil or derivatives.

As people who have been reading this blog for a while will realise, manufacturers can be very coy about calling palm oil "palm oil" and use any number of different euphemisms (see the extremely long list to the left!) Plus many of the items are derived from oil, but doesn't have to necessarily be palm oil. So if I find any of the ingredients listed on the website correspond with the list of euphemisms, then I will have to get back to Reckitt Benckiser to find out if those derivatives are from palm oil or some other oil like (for example) coconut oil. Seems a lot of work for me to do (there are eight products on my Reckitt Benckiser list as as Laura found out, it takes ages just to check one single product) Why do these companies have Customer Services departments if they don't provide any kind of service other than a purely perfunctory one?

Sainbsury's and Tesco and many other suppliers are happy to do the checking of their own brand products for their customers and say yes or no, I think if Reckitt Benckiser want me to continue to use their products, they need to do the work and tell me if the products I'm interested in are palm oil free. I have written to them to that effect to give them a final chance to retain my custom on the products that I buy from them:

• Windowlene original
• Brasso
• Cillit Bang Power Cleaner Grime & Lime
• Dettol Anti-bacterial surface cleaner
• Dettol Anti-bacterial surface cleaner
• Finish Powerball
• Vanish Pre-Wash Stain Stick
• Vanish Stain Remover Pre-Wash

Some of these products, I am happy to just do without if have to. If I don't get a positive response from Reckitt Benckiser, I'm going to have to do some research on alternative brands of dishwasher tablets because Sainsbury's don't have an own brand on those.

Still haven't heard from Homecare Products about Hob Brite, I've e-mailed them twice now 22 November and 14 February with no reply - time to resort to snail mail!