Franken seeks ingredient labeling for household cleansers

Washington, D.C. -- You know what's in your food and many beauty products.  Senator Al Franken wants to make it possible to see exactly what's in your household cleaning products as well.

The Minnesota Democrat introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate requiring producers to fully disclose all ingredients on their product labels, including chemicals some suspect cause long-term harm.  Currently the warnings on cleansers are designed to prevent immediate harm due to swallowing, splashing in eyes or other unintended uses.

"If your child has asthma and there's a cleanser that has something in it like a phthalate, that can cause or aggravate asthma," Sen. Franken explained Tuesday, "You'd like to be able to look at your cleanser and say, 'Ah, my child has that. I will stop using that now'."

Environmental health advocacy groups, such as the Women's Voices for the Earth, have targeted chemicals such as phthalates, glycol ethers and monoethanolamine found in household cleaning products.  Some are used to add fragrances, and others serve as surfactants to help lift dirt and grease off surfaces and fabrics.

Representative Steve Israel, a New York Democrat, is sponsoring the companion legislation in the U.S. House.  Local environmental groups call the measure an important step on the road to ridding products of harmful substances altogether.

"It's a good first step," Kim LaBo of Clean Water Action told KARE, "But it's even more essential that we fix the broken federal regulatory system. There are tens of thousands of chemicals being used in American products and the government has tested only 200 of them."

Commonly voiced concerns range from toxins building in lakes and rivers, effecting genetics in fish and other wildlife, to breathing problems for people with asthma.

"There is some research pointing to these chemicals causing asthma, learning disabilities, reproductive health problems and cancers," environmental health advocate Julia Earl told KARE.

She heads Preventing Harm Minnesota, a children's environmental health organization that works to reduce kids' exposure to toxic substances. The group, among other things, advises parents on safer cleaning options. 

Earl is also the mother of an asthmatic child.

"You hear from friends or professional cleaners that when they work they get an irritated throat, or sinus passages, or start coughing," Earl said, "When that was happening to me I had to think twice. What's that doing for my son?"

Industry response

Leaders in the cleaning products industry call the Franken bill unnecessary and potentially confusing to consumers.

"There's always a concern about turning labels into encyclopedias," Brian Sansoni of the Soap and Detergent Association, in Washington, D.C., told KARE Tuesday.

"Information on the product labels should be clear, concise and  understandable," Sansoni asserted. "We wouldn't want to see anything obscure the most important information on these products, which is how to use the product safely and effectively."

The Soap and Detergent Association will institute a voluntary ingredient labeling initiative in January.  Producers will have the choice of posting all ingredients on their labels or directing consumers to web sites or toll-free phone numbers.

"Our products come in all shapes and sizes," Sansoni said. "There's only so much room on those labels, especially now when they're often bilingual or even trilingual."

The company web pages would also afford producers an opportunity to "add context" about the toxins and what levels of exposure the U.S. government deems to be acceptable.

"Some of these chemicals exist in extraordinarily minute levels," Sanson remarked, "And the science around them is not static. It's changing all the time."

Franken determined

Minnesota's junior senator doesn't endorse the voluntary disclosure system.

"The voluntary thing they could do is just to stop using these ingredients," Franken said, "The common sense thing is to let parents decide. Let the parents look at the ingredients and decide for themselves. That's what this bill would do."

Franken's two children are now grown, but he says he can easily relate to inquisitive parents.

"As a baby, my son always had to have his 'binky' in his mouth, his pacifier," Franken recalled. "Sometimes that thing would fall on the floor and he'd pop it back in. It would've been nice knowing what cleaning products he was putting in his mouth and what was in them."

There's already a wealth of information on how to limit your risks and exposure to chemicals around the house.  Julia Earl noted the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency published a set of tips on how to reduce toxic chemicals in your home, including cleansers, polishes,  pesticides, paints and lawn products.

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