Stiftung Warentest strongly criticized

Stiftung Warentest in the criticism

05/05/2014

The good image of Stiftung Warentest came in recent months, mainly because of the test verdict of a „Ritter Sport“-Chocolate under pressure. Politicians and scientists are also criticizing the lack of transparency and inflated dangers by the product testers. And all for the fiftieth birthday of the organization.

Due to controversial test judgments in the criticism
There are not many organizations in Germany that enjoy as much trust from consumers as Stiftung Warentest. However, the image as a neutral and independent foundation has recently begun to totter. Thus, the product testers are increasingly criticized after a series of controversial test judgments. Like the newspaper „World on Sunday“ reported and discuss scientists and politicians about whether the Berlin product testers have partially overstated their test results and thus confused consumers. The Vice President of the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Reiner Wittkowski, told the paper: „It can be problematic if the foundation communicates its test results in such a way that they are inflated to putative health risks.“

Controversy over a chocolate test verdict
Scientists and representatives of consumer goods manufacturers have been discussing again and again over the years whether the Foundation partly judges too strict, because it sometimes awarded in their tests bad judgments for products containing only small amounts of pollutants. A few weeks ago, the Saarland's Consumer Protection Minister Reinhold Jost (SPD) had called for more transparency on the outcome of test results after a meeting with toy manufacturers. „If watchdogs such as Stiftung Warentest set high moral standards, they must also create against them“, so Jost. In recent years, several cases have become public in which other institutions came to significantly different judgments than the foundation. Above all, the dispute over a test verdict, where the nut chocolate manufacturer „Ritter Sport“ only with the grade „inadequate“ was rated, caused a stir. It was about the fragrance and flavoring Piperonal, which is contained in the chocolate. In January, the district court of Munich had confirmed a preliminary injunction against Stiftung Warentest, according to which it has to withdraw its judgment for the time being. The judges had left open the question of whether piperonal is an artificial or a natural flavor, but noted that the test „unfair“ has been.

Citizens have great faith in Stiftung Warentest
Nevertheless, it is clear that the Federal Republic of Germany still has great confidence in the Foundation. According to a poll published on the weekend by the public relations interest group GPRA, 82 percent of the respondents are very or very confident about the goods testers. However, the North Rhine-Westphalian consumer protection minister Johannes Remmel (Greens) agreed to the demand of his Saarland counterpart for more transparency in the Stiftung Warentest. But he also took them into protection and said that it belongs to the tasks of the product tester, with limits and standards as „Advocate of the consumer“ to initiate political discussions and thus to work towards lower limit values. BfR Vice-President Wittkowski, however, said that he believes that it is not the task of the foundation to work towards lowering existing limit values.

Fiftieth birthday of the foundation
On the part of Stiftung Warentest itself, it is said that legal thresholds for pollutants are sometimes too weak. Michael Braungart, scientific director of the Hamburg Environmental Institute, criticized such publications. He said the foundation was stalking „Fears among consumers, some of which are completely unjustified.“ In contrast, Stiftung Warentest board member Hubertus Primus said he did not think the foundation was too scandalous. Rather the opposite: „Especially with 'poor' judgments, we are quite sure that the test results are correct and justified. We are always guided by what the consumer expects from a product.“ The whole criticism comes just to the fiftieth birthday of Stiftung Warentest. In 1966, the first issue of the magazine was published „The test“. According to her, the foundation has tested about 100,000 products in more than 5,000 tests since its foundation. (Sb)