Uncovering Product Ingredients

A reader writes The Green Guide:

If a manufacturing company refuses to disclose its ingredients (e.g., in laundry detergents, etc.), is it not possible to test the products to determine their ingredients? Or, can one obtain the list of ingredients from Poison Control?

Thank you,
Heidi

The Green Guide responds:

Heidi, you are right to be concerned about companies that refuse to disclose the ingredients. Advertisements of pristine white sheets in sunny meadow have led consumers to believe that laundry detergents, cleaning products and cosmetics are made with safe and natural components. Not necessarily—our clothes may be clean and our countertops may sparkle, but this is often due to chemicals that can cause health problems and indoor air pollution.

Karen Fleming, senior vice president of marketing at Seventh Generation advises consumers to look at labels carefully. "There is no law that requires household manufacturers to disclose product ingredients. Therefore, the consumer should look at the warning labels on the package and thoroughly research products with caution or hazardous labels," Fleming says.

Since consumers can't safely test products themselves, it's better to buy from companies that do disclose and whose ingredients can be vetted. As more consumers demand full listings of ingredients and buy from manufacturers that disclose, other companies may be moved to follow suit.

Below are some tips on how to find out what is in a product, which laundry and cleaning ingredients are least toxic and what ingredients should be avoided.

Note that Poison Control operators cope with emergencies in the event that a product is ingested and address questions regarding safe disposal, but do not provide ingredient information. Instead, they advise contacting the manufacturer.

Laundry Detergent

The burden of finding product ingredients often falls upon the consumer. Even when asked by their customers, large companies frequently choose not to list product ingredients. The first place to look is the product's Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS), which lists ingredients, associated health hazards, and additional information. For example, the MSDS report for various Tide products is available on the company's web site in the question and answer section. In addition, the MSDS reports can be requested by calling Tide's Consumer Relations Department (consumer relations phone numbers are usually listed on product packaging and on company websites). However, the department representatives at Tide were not helpful in answering questions regarding product ingredients, but rather deferred questions to the report itself.

Often, MSDS reports contain more information than the ingredient label. With Tide Deep Clean, the label on the back of the bottle stated only, "free of dyes and perfumes," "contains no phosphate," and "ingredients include biodegradable surfactants (anionic and nonionic) and enzymes." Surfactants are wetting and cleaning agents.

The MSDS report for Tide Deep Clean listed three ingredients: ethyl alcohol (ethanol), a potentially irritating volatile organic compound, sodium borate (borax), a preservative and emulsifier (a substance that is used to mix two liquids that cannot normally be combined), that is not proven to be toxic, and 2-aminoethanol (ethanolamine), another preservative which is not proven to be toxic. However, MSDS reports are not required by law to include every ingredient. They need contain only potentially hazardous substances as defined by The U.S. Government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA is responsible for implementing the "Hazard Communication Standard," which requires that certain chemicals be listed on all MSDS sheets. However, OSHA cannot mandate that manufacturers disclose elements that are not required by the Hazard Communication Standard.

According to the MSDS sheet, Tide Deep Clean has a slight hazard rating. The amalgam of chemicals used in Tide Deep Clean can produce three acute and chronic health hazards including transient gastrointestinal irritation upon ingestion, mild and transient irritation upon eye contact, and transient irritation with prolonged exposed to the concentrated material upon inhalation.

Hand Soap

Even if product ingredients are readily available, it is important to read and understand them in order to avoid harmful chemicals. It is especially important that we be vigilant, because the government does not mandate that cosmetics and personal care products be tested before they are placed on the market.

Dove White, a common soap, lists all ingredients on its packaging as well as the comany website. The ingredients, none of which have been found to be toxic when used on the skin, include: sodium cocoyl isethionate, stearic acid, coconut acid, sodium tallowate, sodium isethionate, water, sodium stearate, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium cocate or sodium palm kernelate, fragrance, sodium chloride, tetrasodium EDTA, tetrasodium etidronate, BHT and titanium dioxide.

The MSDS report states there are no known chronic health hazards associated with Dove White, however prolonged exposure to the soap can cause acute skin irritation. In addition, fruit acids such as coconut acid have been proven to cause skin rashes or dermatitis. And, if you want to avoid using animal-based products, don't choose those containing sodium tallowate, which is a combination of cow, sheep and vegetable fat.

Dove White also contains "fragrance," a blanket labeling term that can conceal the presence of synthetic phthalates, a suspected hormone disrupter (chemicals that mimic or interfere with hormones) that have been proven to cause birth defects and liver damage in animals. While truly natural scents (look for plant essential oils on labels) don't contain phthalates, both natural and synthetic fragrances can be irritating and provoke asthma, skin reactions. When purchasing soap look for products labeled "fragrance free." For more information about hazardous cosmetics and personal care products visit: www.thegreenguide.com/reports.

Slippery Labels

Product labels often misguide consumers with terms like "natural" and nontoxic," which are unregulated claims made by the manufacturer. "The difficulty in reading labels is that they often have incomplete information or use terms that can be misleading," said Philip Dickey, Ph.D., of the Washington Toxics Coalition.

For more information about safer, greener household cleaning supplies see the Household Cleaning Supplies Product Report.

Corporate Concerns

Trade secrecy issues are a concern for many companies that refuse to list ingredients. Others, however, place more weight on transparency and consumer disclosure. "We have a clear policy on transparency that says, among other things, 'Stakeholders need-to-know takes precedence over inconvenience and cost to the corporation,'" Jeffrey Hollender, CEO of Seventh Generation says.

While looking at Seventh Generation's Laundry Liquid - Natural Citrus Scent, we noticed the ingredients label vaguely lists: "Non-animal derived enzymes to remove protein and starch stains." However, the Consumer Relations Department disclosed the names of the enzymes: Savinase 16L, a protease enzyme (these break proteins into smaller, more dissolvable pieces helping getting out protein stains), and Termamyl 300L, an amylase enzyme (these break up starches into smaller fragments, removing them and the dirt they trap). Particles of protease enzymes can irritate respiratory passages, but in liquid form they present no hazard. Both enzymes are biodegradable. "When we disclose ingredients we are taking a risk, because we are in effect disclosing ingredients to our competitors; however, it is more important that consumers know what types of products they are bringing into their home," Fleming says.

It can often be quite difficult to find the types of chemicals that manufacturers use. As consumers, we can urge companies to disclose ingredient information, so that we can make the most informed decision. In addition, we can ask our congresspersons to support legislation that demands full disclosure of product ingredients. As more consumers demand full listings of ingredients, and patronize manufacturers that do disclose, other manufacturers may be moved to follow suit. In the short term, if you still do not trust what you see on a bottle or read in a report, there are innovative ways to make your own laundry detergent and cleaning supplies. For more information about household recipes see "Springtime Fresh."

Also, environmentally hazardous packing materials can be just as harmful as the actual product ingredients. Remember to take into account the environmental and health effects of the product's entire lifecycle before making a purchase.