Question

Experts say that what customers buy in the name of herbal cosmetics is often the same synthetic

cosmetic with a herb or two added, which works to lure customers. A product that says it is 100%

natural may be misleading in the sense that it’s difficult to stabilize a fully natural base and is always

quite expensive, requiring advanced technology. The desired shelf life of a product is expected to be at

least two years, but that of a purely herbal product would be restricted to about six months. Also, the

product won’t be aesthetically appealing as a synthetic product. Hence manufacturers of herbal

products have to include synthetic base ingredients to balance the formula. Herbal ingredients might

also cause allergies as they may contain a large number of constituents which may be allergic to that

user. Thus the concept of using ‘total extracts’ may be harmful, because there are several other

ingredients going into the product. Also, things like pH need to be considered before using it. According

to the law experts, customers suing someone are considered extreme. Given the legal system in India

and the long-drawn litigation process, consumers tend to pursue legal action against

manufacturers/distributors in the event of any problem. However, with the dawn of consumer forums

and more effective laws protecting the interests of the consumers, the trend is slowly moving towards

this direction. At times it is not just manipulative manufacturers and passive consumers but sometimes

weak and absent rules regarding the process of manufacturing can also get fake production licenses.

Also one cannot make a generalization that synthetics are safe while naturals are harmful. I would say

that the difference is that if one is a known devil (synthetics) the other is unknown. Unlike the case of

synthetic cosmetic, herbal cosmetics are still in a nascent stage. You don’t have well-defined standards

for the use of raw materials in the production of herbal cosmetics. Finally, customers can also check

out their cosmetics by using the ‘Cosmetics ingredient dictionary, a database of 19,000 ingredients. It

claims to help users check out what chemical compounds they use daily. This App lets you feed the

names of the ingredients written on the container into the app and then get the reading about it.​

Answer 1

Answer:

1

Explanation:

out their cosmetics by using the ‘Cosmetics ingredient dictionary, a database of 19,000 ingredients. It

claims to help users check out what chemical compounds they use daily. This App lets you feed the