Understanding Our Claims

Seventh Generation's Principle of Precaution guides us throughout every aspect of product development as we work to source renewable, plant-based ingredients, formulate to mitigate risk when it comes to impacting the health of both people and planet, and list our ingredients right on our packaging. Below are some definitions of claims we use on our products and website.

• Scents From Real Ingredients: Go ahead and take a whiff—we think you’ll like what you smell. That’s because our scented products are made with real essential oils and botanical ingredients.
• Made for Sensitive Skin and Hypoallergenic: Our products that are considered Hypoallergenic and/or Made for Sensitive Skin have passed clinical tests and are formulated without fragrance ingredients. As with all products, always use as directed.
• Ingredient Disclosure: We believe you have a right to know what’s in the products you bring into your home. That’s why for many years we voluntarily printed the ingredients for our home care and personal care products right on our labels and on our website.
• Biobased: We third party test and certify our products through the USDA Biopreferred Program so we can be sure that you know just how much of our product's ingredients come from renewable plant sources (renewable carbon) instead of non-renewable petroleum sources (fossil carbon).
• Fragrance Free, 0% Fragrances, No Fragrances: We offer home care, baby care, and personal care products that are made without fragrances with sensitive skin in mind. You can make the choice whether to use products that contain fragrance ingredients that may cause skin irritation or sensitization.
• Methylisonthiazolinone ("MIT") and/or Benzisothiazolinone ("BIT"): Some of our products contain Methylisonthiazolinone ("MIT") and/or Benzisothiazolinone ("BIT") as preservatives to keep the product stable and free of microbial contamination over its shelf life. These products have been evaluated to be hypoallergenic and/or Made for Sensitive Skin, however a small percentage of individuals may have some form of allergic reaction or irritation to MIT or BIT. Always use as directed.
• Plant Based: Sometimes a plant oil is minimally modified with carbon from other sources to improve its performance. When carbon in the modified plant oil is mostly (more than 50%) from the plant, Seventh Generation refers to the ingredient as plant-based. The remaining carbon may be derived from petroleum based sources.
• Plant-Derived: Some ingredients obtain their carbon exclusively from plants, but have been modified from their state found in nature to provide functional performance. Seventh Generation refers to such ingredients as plant-derived.
• Minerals: Many ingredients are found in nature as minerals. If the mineral has been processed to form an ingredient it is listed as mineral-based on our label.
• Preservatives: Some of our formulations require the use of a preservative or preservative system, which helps prevent microorganism growth that can make your products go bad. At this time, we have not found an effective plant-derived preservative system that is compatible with our products. Because of this, we feel confident that our synthetic preservative is the best option at this time. However, we are diligently searching for a wholly plant-derived preservative system.
• Synthetic: Finally, if the carbon in an ingredient is derived exclusively from petroleum or natural gas, the ingredient is synthetic.