Consumers are being confused and misled by the hodgepodge of environmental claims made by household products, according to a “green labeling” study published by Consumers International Friday.
Among the report’s more outrageous findings — a German fertilizer described itself as “earthworm friendly” a brand of flour said it was “nonpolluting” and a British toilet paper claimed to be “environmentally friendlier”.
The study was written and researched by Britain’s National Consumer Council (NCC) for lobby group Consumer International. It was funded by the German and Dutch governments and the European Commission.
“While many good and useful claims are being made, it is clear there is a long way to go in ensuring shoppers are adequately informed about the environmental impact of products they buy,” said Consumers International director Anna Fielder.
The 10country study surveyed product packaging in Britain. Western Europe, Scandinavia and the United States. It found that products sold in Germany and the United Kingdom made the most environmental claims on average.
The report focused on claims made by specific products, such as detergent insect sprays and by some garden products. It did not test the claims, but compared them to labeling guidelines set by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in September,1999.
“Many products had speciallydesigned labels to make them seem environmentally friendly, but in fact many of these symbols mean nothing.” said report researcher Philip Page.
“Laundry detergents made the most number of claims with 158. Household cleaners were second with 145 separate claims. while paints were third on our list with 73.The high numbers show how very confusing it must be for consumers to sort the true from the misleading.” he said.
The ISO labeling standards ban vague or misleading claims on product packaging, because terms such as “environmentally friendly” and “nonpolluting” cannot be verified. “What we are now pushing for is to have multinational corporations meet the standards set by the ISO.” said Page.
【2005年6月】
刊登在周五的《國際消費者》上的一項研究“綠色標簽”的報告指稱，消費者已被那些無處不在且聲稱環保的家用產品弄得無所適從。
該研究報告所列的那些令人難以容忍的例子有：一家德國肥料制造商竟然宣稱其產品不會傷及泥土里的蠕蟲；一種面粉居然聲稱“無污染”；一種產自英國的廁紙則宣稱其產品是“環境愛好者”。
該研究報告由英國的全國消費者理事會應《國際消費者》之邀而研究撰寫的；并由德國政府，荷蘭政府及歐盟委員會資助。
《國際消費者》的主管安娜·費爾德說：“還是有一些有益的東西，但距離讓消費者準確、合理地了解他們所購物品對環境的影響還有一段長路要走。”
產自10個國家的產品在英國接受此次調查，包括西歐、斯堪的那維亞各國和美國。調查發現，在英國和德國出售的產品所做此類聲明最多。
研究報告側重于調查一些特定類別的產品，諸如洗滌劑、殺蟲劑和一些園藝用品。但并不對這些聲明進行測試，只是拿它們與ISO于1999年9月發布的標簽指導手冊對比。Researchers documented claims of environmental friendliness made by about 2,000 products and found many too vague or too misleading to meet ISO standards.
研究人員對2000多種聲稱對環境“友好”的產品進行檢驗，結果卻發現很多此類聲明要么過于模糊不清，要么誤導性太強；均無法達到ISO的標準。
菲利浦·佩吉是研究報告的撰寫人之一，他說：“很多產品有意設計出表明對環境無害的說明性短語，但實際上很多此類說明什么也不是。”
他還說道：“衣服清洗劑所做此類環保聲明最多，共有158宗。家用清潔劑排在第二，共有145宗。油漆名列第三，共有73宗。如此一來，消費者就得從這么多的有誤導性的信息中去偽存真。”
ISO標簽標準禁止在產品包裝上發布模糊或誤導性的信息，因為諸如“對環境友好”，“無污染”此類聲明均無法考證。佩吉說道：“現在所要做的就是讓跨國公司嚴格遵守ISO的標準。”
1. According to the passage, the NCC found it outrageous that.
A)all the products surveyed claim to meet ISO standards
B)the claims made by products are often unclear or deceiving
C)consumers would believe many of the manufactures’ claim
D)few products actually prove to be environment friendly
2. As indicated in this passage, with so many good claims, the consumers.
A)are becoming more cautious about the products they are going to buy
B)are still not willing to pay more for products with green labeling
C)are becoming more aware of the effects different products have on the environment
D)still do not know the exact impact of different products on the environment
3. A study was carried out by Britain’s NCC to.
A)find out how many claims made by products fail to meet environmental standards
B)inform the consumers of the environmental impact of the products they buy
C)examine claims made by products against ISO standards
D)revise the guidelines set by the International Standards Organization
4. What is one of the consequences caused by the many claims of household products?
A)They are likely to lead to serious environmental problems.
B)Consumers find it difficult to tell the true from the false.
C)They could arouse widespread anger among consumer.
D)Consumers will be tempted to buy products they don’t need.
5. It can be inferred from the passage that the lobby group Consumer International wants to.
A)make product labeling satisfy ISO requirements
B)see all household products meet environmental standards
C)warn consumers of the danger of socalled green products
D)verify the efforts of nonpolluting products
