Soap is Dope

The Bronner family, makers of the popular organic Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, have released a new video of NarcoPouch® 928 field drug tests of its soaps and other brands. The results prove that the test kit which was used to jail Don Bolles, drummer for the legendary punk band The Germs, on April 4, 2007 will always give a false-positive for the drug GHB (Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate) if used on any true natural soap. However, in an interesting twist, the kit will test negative for fake, mislabeled "liquid soap" products that are actually detergent-based, not soap-based. The new video features David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, using the NarcoPouch® 928 on a wide variety of common natural soaps as well as detergent-based fake "soap" products.

"Our testing shows that real soaps which are made using the ecological time-honored process of saponification of vegetable oil will always test positive for GHB, while complicated synthetic detergent-based so-called 'liquid soaps' will test negative," says David Bronner. "The NarcoPouch® 928 is a great test for determining if a product labeled 'Soap' actually contains real soap or not. It's ironic that the flawed GHB field test used by cops shows in a graphic and immediate way true versus fake soaps. Fortunately for Don Bolles, the much more accurate confirmation drug-testing by the Orange County crime lab proved our soap did not contain the drug GHB."

Detergents in fake soap products are usually made in part, or even entirely, from petroleum along with vegetable feedstocks. For instance, Sodium Myreth Sulfate, the main ingredient in JASON's so-called "Pure, Natural & Organic Soap," is made by attaching ethylene oxide groups from petroleum to a vegetable fatty acid, which also produces trace 1,4 dioxane as a side reaction. Olefin Sulfonate, the main ingredient in both Nature's Gate ORGANICS "Soap" and Kiss My Face ObsessivelyOrganic "Soap," is made entirely from petroleum. Cocamidopropyl Sultaine, the main ingredient in EO's so-called "Soap," is for the most part petroleum-based.

Bronner laments that "Companies mislead consumers by conflating their detergent-based products with ecological biodegradable soaps, even calling these synthetic detergent products 'organic.' Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps are real soaps made from real organic oils, while these other so-called 'soap' products are in fact detergents made from petroleum and conventional vegetable material. They are not soap, they are not organic, and they are not natural."

The crime lab confirmation test that exonerated Don Bolles and Dr. Bronner's soaps of GHB, uses the GC-MS method which is much more accurate than the field drug test kits used by the Newport Beach Police. "Police departments nationwide should immediately stop using the NarcoPouch® 928 field test for GHB, as it is not accurate when used on soaps, and who knows what other common household products," urges Bronner. ODV, Inc., maker of the NarcoPouch® 928, is a subsidiary of Armor Holdings, Inc. The company has done nothing to alert police departments about the false positives when used on natural soap.

According to retired FBI agent and forensics expert Dr. Frederick Whitehurst, "There is no effort by the National Academies of Science to validate forensic science protocols, and there are no national standards for presumptive field drug tests. I believe our freedoms are being infringed upon because of fake science."