What’s In Your Household Cleaners?

Growing movements of environmentally-conscious consumers are claiming labels for household products are not going far enough when it comes to letting consumers know what’s in the products they sell. Several consumer groups are stepping up their efforts to lobby household product manufacturers to come clean on what they put in their products, according to an article published recently in the New York Times (Fight Grows Over Labels on Household Cleaners, September 16, 2009).

In response to consumer groups concerns over chemicals that have been associated with asthma, birth defects and fertility problems commonly found in detergents and surface cleaners, several manufacturers have voluntarily agreed to begin disclosing – via web, an 800-number or directly on the container’s label – what is in their cleaning products by January 2010, according to the Times.

The voluntary plan covers four product categories including: air fresheners, automotive care, household cleaners and floor polishes, according to the Times article. But ingredients that amount to less than 1 percent in a product will be exempt from this disclosure plan, mainly because these are the so-called secret ingredients that set their products apart from others and manufacturers do not want to disclose their secrets to competitors. Therein lies the problem, according to some of the more hard line critics, who believe that those are the chemicals that could cause long-term damage. Currently, the federal government only requires manufacturers to disclose ingredients that could cause immediate danger.

The article goes on to mention that this is a growing issue that is unlikely to go away and could receive more attention on the state and federal level in the coming months.  A similar problem, not discussed in the Times article, is that pesticide manufacturers are only required to disclose "active" ingredients, that is the chemical that kills the pest, but not other ingredients that in some instances can themselves present some risk.  New requirements for the disclosure of these chemicals, unfortunately listed on labels as "inerts", a term which itself is misleading, are currently being considered.