Methodology
Product and Ingredient Data Sources
Toxicity Datasets & Product Ratings
INFO / METHODOLOGY / Findings
EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning reviews and rates more than 2,000 popular household cleaning products with grades A through F, based on the safety of their ingredients and the information they disclose about their contents.
In the making for more than a year, EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning, the only one of its kind, has found that hazardous industrial chemicals lurk in far too many bottles and boxes under Americans’ sinks and on laundry room shelves.
Just seven percent of cleaning products adequately disclosed their contents. To uncover what’s in common household cleaners, EWG’s staff scientists spent 14 months reading product labels and digging through company websites and technical documents. We researched ingredients and contaminants in 15 government, industry and academic toxicity databases and numerous scientific and medical journals. Read more here.
With EWG’s help, consumers can shop smart – and also change the marketplace by pressing the cleaning industry to come up with safer formulations and to label ingredients clearly and completely.
EWG’s key scientific findings:
EWG recommends avoiding some products altogether because they’re unnecessary or there are no safer alternatives. Among them:
Though plant-based ingredients don’t use petrochemicals, some plant-derived substances can cause allergic reactions. Some chemicals used in “green” product lines have not been thoroughly tested and get Cs for lack of safety data.
The scarcity of solid data about risks associated with cleaning product contents underscores the need for reform of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, to require safety testing of chemicals on the market.
Ingredient labels are mandatory for food, cosmetics and drugs – but not for cleaning products. Manufacturers aren’t required to disclose all ingredients in their cleaners and many don’t, including some “green” cleaners makers.
EWG urges consumers to tell manufacturers and legislators they want these products labeled with a complete list of ingredients, including individual chemicals in fragrance and any impurities present. Publishing ingredient information on the web or requiring consumers to telephone the company is not good enough.
Find personal care, cleaning, and food products on the EWG Healthy Living app.
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