The Meaning of Greening

摘要

My milk bottle label proclaims that the milk comes from cows not treated with rBST/rBGH hormones, implicitly suggesting it matters. Below that statement is a government-mandated note saying that it makes no difference. The effect on the consumer is udder confusion. The muddle over milk is just the latest chapter for the food industry, which struggled for years to define vague concepts such as natural, organic, and free-range. Eco-labeling, for lack of a better term, has also spread to household products. It includes some better known ones such as Green Seal, and some lesser ones, such as the Leaping Bunny logo, signifying that a product was developed with a compassion for animals. In an effort to provide some clarity, a Consumer Reports web site, www.greenerchoices.org, lists about 150 of such eco-labels and rates them by criteria such as meaningfulness, verifiableness, consistency, and availability of the standards.