Think the Earth

At the end of the year, we often feel the urge to go shopping. But it's really difficult to know what products are good and what products aren't. Recently there is an increasing number of people in Germany who rely on the test results available on the monthly magazine, "Test," published by the German consumer testing agency, "Stiftung Warentest."

There is also a similar magazine known as "Eco Test" magazine that has been published since 1985 . Stiftung Warentest is a completely independent foundation established in 1964 by the German Bundestag (parliament). It tests various aspects of products - pricing, efficacy, taste, safety, any residual pesticides, durability, and so forth - and gives 5 levels of assessment ranging from "very good" to "very bad." The magazine has great credibility, and thus boasts a circulation of 560,000 copies a month. The great influence the magazine has was illustrated in 2006, the year the FIFA World Cup took place. It thoroughly checked the safety standards of the 12 venues, and 4 locations were rated "very bad," causing the stadia to quickly take measures to resolve such issues.

With the bitter chocolate testing conducted in November 2007, the test found that Rapunzel's organic brand, " Bio Negro," contained a carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbon, causing the company to suspend sales.

And in the latest, January edition, the test looked into "champagne," "hand creams," etc. The test ranked the discount outlet store's cheap champagne as number 1 out of all 26 companies, causing quite a ruckus. These test results show us that products aren't good just because they are labeled organic or are high priced.

(Photograph: "Winner's" mark placed on products for advertisement purposes to show that they received "very good" or "good" assessment in the test.)