Why EWG Verified Products Matter

The Environmental Working Group empowers consumers to make healthy choices by holding products to strict ingredient standards.

I’m getting older, so I’ve started taking better care of my skin. For me, that means investing in eye creams, serums, and oils to ensure my face and body are moisturized and healthy. It also means going through ingredient lists with a fine-toothed comb.

Our skin is the body’s largest organ — it absorbs much of what we put on it and those substances end up in our bloodstream. However, only 11 of the more than 10,000 chemicals used in personal care products are banned or restricted by the Food and Drug Administration.

As a result, companies are at liberty to include toxic ingredients in the lotions and potions we use every day. Think parabens and phthalates, which disrupt hormones and harm the reproductive system, PFAs, which have been linked to cancer, and methylene glycol, a type of formaldehyde. In the event that these chemicals are included in the fragrance, brands don’t have to disclose that they use them at all.

When in doubt, I consult the Environmental Working Group’s database of approved products. Household and personal care products that are EWG Verified™ — like Avocado’s Grounding Dry Body Oil — have been rigorously tested to ensure they don’t contain toxic chemicals or ingredients that could be harmful to human or environmental health.

“EWG and Avocado are both committed to bringing safe and healthy products to all consumers,” says Emily Spilman, Science Analyst at Environmental Working Group. “EWG’s rigorous criteria ensure consumers that the products that carry the EWG Verified™ mark are free from our chemicals of concern and meet our strictest standards for health. We hope to see more brands follow in Avocado’s footsteps.”

Not only are nonprofits like EWG necessary for building consumer trust, they hold brands accountable in a way that federal regulations don’t. That’s important. Especially when you consider women in the U.S. use an average of 12 personal care products per day containing 168 different chemicals and men use an average of six products containing 85 different chemicals. While many aren’t harmful, parabens and phthalates, which are commonly used in personal care products, affect how women’s bodies produce estrogen and have been linked to breast cancer and reproductive damage.

Woman reading dry grounding body oil label

Photos courtesy of Avocado Green Brands.

At Avocado, you can rest assured our skin and body rituals are made without parabens, phthalates, sulfates, silicone, formaldehyde, mineral oil, or other toxic, hormone-disrupting materials. All of our products, including Grounding Dry Body Oil, are also PFAS-Free, meaning they do not include highly fluorinated chemicals that are shown to cause severe human health concerns and remain in the environment forever.

Instead, we just use the good stuff — healthy ingredients that are safe for you and the environment.

Plus, the EWG Verified™ logo gives you the confidence that what you’re putting on your body is natural, non-toxic, and safe for your skin and the planet.

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Meredith is a Copywriter at Avocado. When she's not writing or brainstorming new content, you can find her enjoying the outdoors, testing out plant-based recipes, and spending time with her husband, her beagle, Arnie, and her cats, Mildred and Brad.