Traditional Medicinals markets FairWild certified products

Sebastopol, USA, 20 November 2009—Traditional Medicinals, a leading medicinal and herbal tea company has become the first U.S.-based manufacturer to obtain the new FairWild certification.

Traditional Medicinals was instrumental in first identifying a critical gap in sustainability certification for wild harvested plants. The company is currently the largest Fair Trade-certified herbal tea company in the U.S. However, of the roughly 3,000 plant species traded globally, more than 2,000 are wild-collected and thus not eligible for Fair Trade certification.

But now the company has FairWild certification for wild-collected ingredients in two of its “Just for Kids” herbal tea products, Organic Cold Care and Organic Nighty Night, with further FairWild labeled products set to be introduced in 2010.

“We are very proud to have this new sustainability standard for wild-collected ingredients for our products. However, investing time and resources in developing new universal standards for wild-collected plants is not a marketing idea, this is an example of how we do business,” said Blair Kellison, CEO, Traditional Medicinals.

“As we are relying on communities all over the world for herbal ingredients that are passed through to our consumers in our products, our deeper involvement in ensuring the sustainability and quality of our supply chain isn’t just humanitarian ethics, it is also sound business practice.”

Traditional Medicinals has worked with plant collector communities for over 35 years to ensure the most efficacious and highest quality pharmacopoeial grade herbs for its products.

The company’s experience and perspective helped the FairWild Foundation establish a critical social and ecological benchmark across all industries that use wild-collected plant species in their products including medicines, teas, spices and cosmetics.

“Traditional Medicinals has been a key driving force in getting our act together and putting business sense in the designing and applicability of our FairWild Standard,” said Bert-Jan Ottens, Head of Communication and Marketing of the FairWild Foundation.

“Working with a private sector partner has helped us focus on priorities. We are therefore very happy that as a result they are now a frontrunner in the U.S. and other markets, truly incorporating all the important aspects of sustainability in their FairWild certified products.”

For more information about Traditional Medicinals products please visit www.traditionalmedicinals.com.