Rachel Swain, mother and author of "Baby and the Bathwater," visited the EWG's website and tapped into its database, which rates the toxicity of the personal care items it has analyzed. What she discovered shocked her--and us. The ingredients of so-called organic or natural products are often neither.

This deception is not news to James Hahn and Diana Kaye, owners of Terressentials, a maker of organic body care items. The battle over organic standards for personal care products has been going on for a long time, and Hahn and Kaye clearly lay out the issues in "A Double Standard for Personal Care Products?"

While scientists debate whether or not it's the size of the dose that makes a substance poisonous, health advocates are calling for caution. Small children, according to the EPA, are ten times more sensitive to most chemicals than are adults.

While this hot topic is drawing mounting attention from manufacturers, buyers and suppliers, it may be a long while before changes in favor of safe, non-toxic cosmetics sweep supermarket shelves. In the meantime, Mothering offers parents the information they need to clean up their families personal care products right now.