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« Kids' Food a Fly Won't Touch | Main | Asbestos: Not Gone, Not Forgotten »
Could be hard to avoid these 7 cleaning ingredients, but you should try
By Lisa Frack with EWG Senior Scientist Rebecca Sutton
A few weeks ago I stood in the cleaning aisle wondering what to get. Since I'm a die-hard label reader, I grabbed some containers and turned them around so I could assess the ingredients.
On one, there was no ingredient list - at all. On another, I could see what exactly 1.2% of the ingredients were. The other 98.8% were listed as "other ingredients." So much for informing the consumer.
Why so incomplete? Because currently the government only requires manufacturers to list a very few ingredients on product labels - mainly pesticides - which is, of course, only part of the environmental health story when it comes to the chemicals in your cleaning products.
So what's an eco-healthy shopper supposed to do when the label tells you so little? And no, "safe for your family and your pets when used as directed" doesn't qualify as useful information.
Ingredients just got a little easier to find
Not surprisingly, manufacturers of cleaning supplies are increasingly aware of us label readers. And business being business, they don't want to lose us - even if they have to show me a full ingredient list. Which is exactly what they plan to do - sorta.
Starting in January, 2010, industry groups began making more ingredient information available to consumers - but not in the aisle (where it counts). They're calling it the Consumer Product Ingredient Communication Initiative. It covers four product categories: air fresheners, automotive care, household cleaners, and floor polishes.
What it means to you
If you want a full ingredient list for a specific product, you can get it online or on the phone. An improvement to be sure. What you still can't do is make an informed decision while shopping (unless you've got a smart phone and are prepared to spend some time hunting info down while standing in the aisle).
Once you know what's inside, skip these 7 ingredients
While having an ingredient list somewhere is surely better than not having one at all, interpreting it is a different story. Which is why EWG Senior Scientist Rebecca Sutton put together this list of top ingredients of concern - so you can avoid them (good luck pronouncing them):
- 2-butoxyethanol (or ethylene glycol monobutyl ether) and other glycol ethers. 2-butoxyethanol is a widely-used cleaning solvent that: causes anemia by damaging red blood cells, creates air pollution that exceeds workplace limits, is linked to impaired fertility and reproductive and developmental toxicity, and (just to really make the case) EPA considers it a possible human carcinogen.
- Alkylphenol ethoxylates. These detergent-like chemicals break down into alkylphenols, potent hormone disruptors widely detected in people and the environment. The E.U. and Canada have banned them in cleaning supplies. The U.S. (surprise!) has not. Some common ones are: nonyl- and octylphenol ethoxylates, or non- and octoxynols.
- Dye. Companies often hide chemical information behind this word; when it's this unknown, it's safer to skip it altogether.
- Ethanolamines. These pH-stabilizers can cause otherwise healthy people to develop asthma. Some studies show that certain ethanolamines are carcinogenic or neurotoxic. Common ones to look out for are: mono-, di-, and tri-ethanolamine.
- Fragrance. These mystery mixtures can contain hundreds of untested chemicals, including toxic ingredients like phthalates and synthetic musks - both hormone disruptors. Fragrances are also among the top five allergens in the world.
- Pine or citrus oil. You may associate these smells with clean, but we recommend you don't use cleaning supplies that contain them on smoggy or high ozone days, when compounds in the oils can react with ozone in the air to form carcinogenic formaldehyde.
- Quaternary ammonium compounds (aka "quats"). These common antibacterial cleaning ingredients can cause otherwise healthy people to develop asthma. Overuse of quats may lead to development of bacteria resistant to these and other germ-killing chemicals. Look out for these: alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (ADBAC), benzalkonium chloride, and didecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride.
Vague terms like "preservative" or "surfactant" don't really tell you what chemicals are in your cleaning supplies. This new "communication initiative" specifically allows fragrances, dyes, and preservatives to be identified by their functional names - in other words, the ingredient list will say just that: dyes, fragrances, and preservatives. Not thinking that qualifies as transparency - you?
What about the "greener" products, do they list ingredients?
We expect better labeling from safer products, and many deliver (and have for a while). A standout is Seventh Generation - they emphasize transparency and share full ingredient lists on their products (bless them) and their web site (complete with explanations for those of us who scratch their head when they see words like protease and oleic acid).
There oughta be a law...
US Representative Steve Israel (D-NY) and US Senator Al Franken (D-MN) are working on that. Last year they introduced bills in Congress that EWG supports - both called the Household Product Labeling Act - to require makers of household cleaners and other products to disclose their ingredients on the labels - a big step further than this voluntary industry campaign.
Rep. Israel describes it well in this short video.
[Thanks to Flickr CC & Manny Wallace for the wall of cleaners]
Seventh Generation uses SLS and are not the end all be all in safe cleaning products, and they cost more money! For a safe green clean with NO GREENWASHING, that costs about the same or even less, which also includes a green fundraising program to help spread this mission and message, please go to
www.wowgreen.net/GreenGoddess
Thanks for your article linking us to the site which has cleaning product ingredients. Like, you I am an avid label reader. I'm also a reader of embedded hyperlinks in articles and I want to take you to task for the misleading and quite incorrect comments about "dyes, fragrances and preservatives" not being transparent. Your own link "hundreds of untested chemicals" in this article takes you to an article you only wrote a couple of weeks ago which clearly states that you can now have access to a list of 3,163 ingredients in fragrances. You even give us another helpful link to get to those ingredients.
So please, Lisa, pull up your socks. We expect better from you.
Anna
Wonderful information. I will be getting this out to friends and family that know how passionate I am for "real" natural products.
I use a "green seal" cleaner and am so thankful to have it.
May more and more people make the change to better their lives and the lives of all around them.
I don't understand why my shampoo bottle lists every ingredient and my laundry detergent bottle does not. With the shampoo, at least I've got a place to start when I want to make an informed decision about what product to use.
I also don't want to make decisions just because somebody says a product is good or bad. Where can I find the information that leads one website say that a product will cause cancer or poison our water when another says that it is OK?
At least with something like BPA, we got to see real information, from both sides, and could make an informed decision. Where can I read the basic facts about the 7 cleaning products and not just be told they are "bad"?
thanks for the info
You recommend Seventh Generation products but yet every one of them contains D-limonene, which is a solvent derived from citrus oil, which is one of the products you say to avoid.... Hmm....
Anna, Thanks for taking the time to weigh in. Our blog post about the chemicals in fragrances "3,163 ingredients HIDE behind the word 'fragrance'"(http://www.enviroblog.org/2010/02/3682-ingredients-hide-behind-the-word-fragrance.html) shows a long list of the chemicals manufacturers report using in fragrances. It remains impossible to know which of the 3,163 are in any particular product, because the labels simply say "fragrance." So, even if you do internet research before shopping an get hold of this list, you still have no way of knowing which of the 3,163 self-reported chemicals are in a product you're considering buying. I don't call that transparent. Consider my socks pulled up :-) Lisa
Michael,
Re 7th Generation, We mention them here b/c they make a point of listing all ingredients in their products right on the product label for all to see - while shopping. This way, if you don't like D-limonene, you can avoid it.
Also, we did a quick check and did find that not all their products contain D-limonene - even though that's not our point in highlighting them here.
Thanks for weighing in, Lisa
Ben, Cosmetics (shampoo) are regulated by the FDA, not so cleaning products, so the labeling requirements are different. You can learn more about cosmetics regulations at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics regulations page: http://www.safecosmetics.org/article.php?list=type&type=30.
Re where to find more info on these 7 ingredients that we suggest avoiding, there is info in our Fall 2009 school cleaners report: http://www.ewg.org/schoolcleaningsupplies/classroomasthma that might be helpful.
Hope that helps, Lisa
Michael - 1 follow up: Our recommendation to avoid pine and citrus oils is specifically for smoggy or high ozone days, when compounds in the oils can react with ozone in the air to form carcinogenic formaldehyde. Not all the time. Lisa
You should check out Shaklee Corporation's complete line of non-toxic, biodegradable home cleaners. They came out with one of the very first ones, 'Basic-H', in 1960.
Link for more info:
http://sharinghealth.myshaklee.com/us/en/category.php?main_cat=HomeCare&sub_cat=GetCleanStarterKit
A very useful article to help us avoid chemically-laden cleaners. Baking soda is my #1 cleaning agent. Very non-toxic and environmentally safe and OK for most people too.
Lisa,
Thank you and EWG for all your research. As an engineer for the EPA, I use a lot of your data when doing outreach or managing new projects within our RCRA programs.
I wish I could collaborate more with you guys, but I get the impression no one trust the EPA anymore...
With respect and admiration of your dedication,
Sharon
Shaklee Get Clean is probably the most concentrated (saving those pesky bottles from the trash or recycle bin) of all the "green" cleaners as well as having the full line of cleaners so you don't have to shop all over the place to get what you need: Safe, Green Cleaners. We have been doing the right thing since 1956 and created the first bio-degradable cleaner in 1960. Please do your research. Check Shaklee out. It will be worth your time!
I forgot to say, Shaklee products are "In Harmony With Nature" and are ALWAYS SAFE, ALWAYS GREEN & ALWAYS WORK: http://health-connection.myshaklee.com/us/en/about_safe_green_cleaners.html
You really don’t need to use anything but water to clean and disinfect. Here’s a great product I backed into. We use it to clean just about everything without chemicals -- http://vapor-systems.com/ Does a better job in ½ the time. Anything else leaves residues behind that draw new dirt.
A medical device in Japan, this amazing technology can now be purchased in the US. It restructures water by passing it over seven platinum-coated, titanium plates with 230 v of electricity to create both alkaline and acidic water streams. Acidic water(2.5 pH)physically kills bacteria, virus, etc. by oxidyzing them, and therefore can sanitize and disinfect your household as well as all your food without chemicals! The high alkaline water (above 11.5 pH) can emulsify oil and grease from all surfaces, and can extract and clean oil-based pesticides off food. You can literally create a chemical-free environment in your home. Of course, the alkaline, antioxidant, restructured micro-clustered water is the healthiest drinking water there is, and eliminates the need for plastic bottles!!! An Environment Saver and a Money Saver!! Well worth the price. www.IonActiveWater.com
So far, I've been cleaning just fine with various combinations and mixtures of Dr. Bronner's liquid soap, sodium perborate/carbonate (which are the active ingredients in OxiClean or OxoBrite) water, white and apple cider vinegar, baking soda, lemons and salt. Not sure why people think they have to buy cleaning products when most of what you need is already in your kitchen.
I use an appliance connected to my washing machine that sanitizes my laundry without using hot water or detergents or bleach. Silver ions, UV germacidal lights and O3 clean my wash and is safe for the environment and septic/sewer systems.