The Missouri General Assembly has introduced legislation this session to combat misleading or deceptive practices related to the wood industry.
SB 760, carried by Senator Jamie Burger and HB 1537, carried by Representative Tony Harbison, both aim to stop sellers from selling products they claim are wood, when in reality the product is synthetic wood.
One of the biggest reasons behind the bill is to help protect Missouri’s wood industry.
While not often thought of when it comes to Missouri’s agricultural industries, the forest industry is much larger than the average Missourian might think. Missouri’s forest products are valued at $10 billion dollars and the industry employs over 42,000 Missourians across the state. This includes sawmill workers, lumber workers and even flooring producers.
According to Missouri Forest Products Association Executive Director Brian Brookshire, when these sellers use deceptive tactics to market their products as real wood to consumers, it can seriously affect the entire forest products industry in the state. But he says it can also harm consumers.
“These bills represent a victory, both for the forest products industry in the state of Missouri and most importantly, consumers,” Brookshire said. “Knowing the difference between real hardwood and synthetic wood products will allow Missouri consumers to make informed decisions and support a state-wide, multi-billion dollar industry.”
According to Brookshire, when consumers get duped into buying synthetic wood products instead of real wood products, they are unknowingly settling for lower quality, harming their projects and in some cases, even risking their health.
The most common and easy-to-understand example of this issue is the flooring market.
There are vast differences between synthetic wood flooring and real wood flooring. Although usually cheaper, synthetic wood flooring is not as durable as wood and will significantly degrade over time. Wood flooring can also increase the value of a house. Wood flooring is also obviously made of wood, meaning it is completely sustainable and can easily be turned into other products later on. Whereas synthetic wood flooring is often not recyclable and has to be burned, which can be harmful to the environment. According to the EPA, wood flooring is also better for your health since synthetic flooring is more likely to harbor dangerous microorganisms and allergens.
But for Brookshire, it’s more than knowing the difference between the two products. According to him, consumers should have the right to choose what they buy, but they also deserve the right to know what they are buying when they buy it, not when problems crop up in the future.
He believes these bills are a good way to help stop this issue.
Specifically, these bills would bar “any person advertising or selling wood products” from “misrepresenting a product as a wood product if the product is not derived or harvested from wood”, protecting both the industry and the consumer from deceptive marketing tactics.
Currently, both bills have been referred to committee.
