There's more trouble brewing for Jessica Alba's business, The Honest Company.
The consumer goods corporation, which was
co-founded by the 34-year-old actress, is facing more legal battles.
Court documents obtained by ET allege that the company falsely marketed
several of its products as not containing sodium laurel sulfate (SLS), a
chemical compound found in many personal care products that some
believe to be harmful.
The class action complaint, filed by Margo Smith
in the Eastern Missouri District Courton March 24, alleges that several
Honest products currently on the market, including "liquid laundry
detergent, dish soap, multisurface cleaner and other products" may
contain the compound. While SLS is found in many of the Honest Company's
competitors' products, including Tide and Seventh Generation, the
company has in the past attempted to distinguish its own products as
being SLS-free.
A Wall Street Journal
report published earlier in March is cited in the complaint, as the
newspaper claimed to have commissioned two independent laboratories to
test Honest's laundry detergent. Both studies allegedly both detected
significant levels of the chemicals in question, with WSJ reporting,
"More than a dozen scientists interviewed by the Journal said SCS, which
is made from palm or coconut oil, is a mixture of various cleaning
agents that includes a significant amount of SLS."
The Honest Company issued a blog post
in response to the report, saying the publication "clearly had the goal
of harming the reputation and good will that we are so proud to have
built here at Honest."
The company also released a statement to ET,
saying, "Despite providing The Wall Street Journal with substantial
evidence to the contrary, they falsely claimed our laundry detergent
contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. To set the record straight, we use
Sodium Coco Sulfate (SCS) in our brand's laundry detergent because it is
a gentler alternative that is less irritating and safer to use."
"Rigorous testing and analysis both by our
internal research and development teams as well as further testing by
external partners have confirmed this fact," they concluded.
Alba's company, which has been valued at $1 billion, according to Forbes,
was previously sued last fall by a consumer, Jonathan D. Rubin, who
claimed they "deceptively and misleadingly" marketed their products as
"natural" when several of their products allegedly contain "unnatural"
ingredients.
Alba responded in a statement to ET at the time,
saying, "I started The Honest Company to develop safe and effective
products not just for my children, but for families everywhere. The
allegations against us are baseless and without merit."
"We strongly stand behind our products and the responsibility we have to our consumers," she added.
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