Household cleaners causing cancer?

Wouldn’t you like to know?

By SANDY LONG

UPPER DELAWARE REGION — It’s on the shelf in your favorite grocery store. And that woman looks so satisfied in that commercial as the soap scum peels off the grimy shower wall after she sprays that can of chemicals. So we can assume it’s safe to use in our homes, right? A look at the label should tell us. But a quick scan confirms one certainty: the label doesn’t even list your favorite household cleaner’s chemical constituents. So how is one to know?

Rights and Laws

In an attempt to gain access to such information, health and environmental advocates took manufacturers Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight and Reckitt-Benckiser to court on February 17 to require disclosure of the chemicals contained in cleaning products under a nearly forgotten 1976 New York law.

The nonprofit public interest law firm Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of state and national groups: Women’s Voices for the Earth, Environmental Advocates of New York, New York Public Interest Research Group, Riverkeeper, Sierra Club and American Lung Association in New York.

According to Earthjustice attorney Keri N. Powell, the law requires manufacturers to list the substances in all cleaning products sold in New York and to submit that information, along with associated health or safety studies, to the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

But in the three decades since the law was passed, no reports have been filed. “It’s time to dust off this important law and take the first step in giving consumers the information they need to protect themselves and their families,” said Powell. “Consumers deserve to know whether the products they use to wash their dishes, launder their clothes or clean their homes are harmful to themselves or their environment.”

The organizations plan to use the ingredient disclosure reports to educate their members and the general public about the chemicals in cleaning products that may pose a threat. The law also gives authority to the DEC commissioner to restrict the use of any chemicals determined to have an adverse effect on human health or the environment.

The companies were asked to comply with the New York law last fall. The four named in the suit either refused to supply the lists or ignored the request, while five other manufacturers—Method, Seventh Generation, Weiman Products, Prestige Brands and Sunshine Makers—submitted product ingredient information, according to Powell.

The advocacy groups contend that independent studies show links between chemicals in common household cleaners and respiratory irritation, asthma, allergies, reproductive system damage and birth defects. Some solvents are also believed to be toxic to the nervous system. Other concerns include hormone-disrupting qualities of chemicals found in detergents, disinfectants, stain removers and floor cleaners that can mimic the hormone estrogen.

Complicating the challenge of evaluating the safety of household cleaners is that even once you know what’s in them, you may not know the potential risks associated with those chemicals. Visit www.womenandenvironment.org/campaignsandprograms/SafeCleaning/HazardsReport.pdf for a report by Women’s Voices for the Earth detailing health effects of ingredients commonly used in household cleaners.

Role of the European Union

While the move to require manufacturers to disclose chemical ingredients may be novel in America, the European Union has increasingly required such disclosures over the past decade.

Award-winning investigative reporter Mark Schapiro brought attention to this issue in his 2007 book, “Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s At Stake for American Power,” recently released by Chelsea Green in paperback. Schapiro, who is editorial director of the Center for Investigative Reporting, writes that toxic agents that can cause cancer, genetic damage and birth defects are present in everything from our electronic gadgets to our toys to our beauty products and cleaning supplies.

Unlike the European Union, the United States doesn’t require businesses to minimize, or even to list such chemicals. Even as multinational corporations manufacture safer products for Europe, U. S. standards allow them to continue selling products of questionable safety to Americans.

In a recent interview on Democracy Now, ( www.democracynow.org/2009/2/24/us_lags_behind_europe_in_regulating ) Schapiro talked about the “illusion” held by many Americans that “the government is looking out for their health and safety, when it comes to chemicals.” Asserting this is not the case, Schapiro discusses the impact of this lapse on America’s economic and political status in the world. “The world is no longer waiting for America,” he said.

Following increased regulations by the European Union, America has, in effect, become a “dumping ground,” as major corporations align themselves increasingly with European standards. “We get the toxic toys. We get the toxic electronics. We get the toxic material that other countries around the world are protected from,” he said.

Schapiro called the Earthjustice lawsuit an “extremely important” initiative. “It shows how intentional it is that we don’t know what’s in these products,” he said. “It’s not an accident.” But he also sees hope on the horizon. “I think the Obama administration has shown, so far, an awareness of these threats to our health and environment and has put people into positions to act,” he said.

Currently, no federal law requires manufacturers to list chemical ingredients on cleaning product labels. But that may change with this legal challenge, which could have national implications. (See the lawsuit at www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/cleaning-products-disclosure-petition.pdf ).

Even now, Americans are inching closer to learning what’s in their cleaners. As the European Union demands such disclosure, and in some cases, removal of chemical ingredients, multinational corporations are being forced to provide the information abroad that they have failed to make available in America. “The same companies refusing to supply that information here are preparing toxicity data in order to hang onto the European market,” said Schapiro.

Proctor & Gamble declined to comment based on the current legal status of the matter. Representatives from Colgate-Palmolive did not respond by press time.