In an article in USA Today, reporter Traci Watson describes how, even as “green” marketing claims have exploded, the Federal Trade Commission has taken almost no enforcement action over the past decade on misleading product labels.

As she explains, companies touting eco-friendly products or biodegradable packaging are supposed to abide by guidelines issued by the FTC in 1992. The FTC can take companies that ignore the so-called “Green Guides” to court and seek fines to reimburse consumers.

According to Suzanne Shelton, whose firm polled Americans this spring on their green-buying habits, one-third of consumers rely on labels to decide whether a product is environmentally friendly. "If the FTC isn't regulating that, then consumers are possibly being sold a bill of goods," she says.

Since May 2000, the FTC has taken legal action against only three companies for violating the guidelines. All three complaints were announced June 9, the day of a congressional hearing about environmental marketing. (To read an article from Sustainable Industries on this development, go to “FTC fights ‘green’ claims.”)

"There has been little to no enforcement of the 1992 guides," says environmental consultant Kevin Tuerff, whose company started a Web site aimed at exposing ads with questionable environmental claims. "They need to pick up the pace."

From 1992 to 2000, the FTC generally filed two or more complaints a year, but enforcement dropped off under President Bush.

To read Watson’s complete article, go to “Green claims by marketers go unchecked.”