[caption id="attachment_62858" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Actress Jessica Alba, co-founder of The Honest Co., listens to a presentation during the DreamForce Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. Salesforce.com Inc. aims to cut the time its customers spend plugging data into its systems by weaving machine-learning technology from acquisition RelateIQ into its software for managing sales accounts. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images[/caption]Jessica Alba faced tough questions over a new lawsuit filed by the Organic Consumers Association against her Honest Co., which is claiming Honest’s organic infant formula includes no fewer than “11 synthetic ingredients,” some “federally regulated as hazardous compounds.”
At a TechCrunch Disrupt panel this week, Alba deferred to her company’s chief marketing officer, Chris Thorne, to respond.
“We stand by that product,” Thorne said. “Jessica’s name brings a lot of attention to this issue. It’s a very smart strategy by some of these groups to draw attention to what they’re trying to do. It’s unfortunate for us.”
He added, “That consumer advocacy group’s issue is with the government standards . . . not with Honest. Honest complies with all the organic standards.”
The suit filed in LA alleges Honest’s organic formula “in fact is not organic.” And, “Of the 40 ingredients . . . more than a quarter are synthetic substances that are not allowed in organic products.”
Thorne added of criticism of Honest’s sunscreen, “We talked to . . . all the consumers that had issues.”