Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has introduced a bill requiring household cleaning products such as furniture polish and laundry detergent to fully disclose all ingredients on their product labels, including chemicals that might be hazardous to the long-term health of both humans and the environment. Cleaning product labels are currently required by law to contain warnings designed to prevent short-term harm due to swallowing, contact with eyes, and other unintended uses.
“Moms and dads have a right to know whether harmful chemicals are present in their kitchen cupboards,” Franken stated in a press release about Bill S. 1697. “When my wife Franni and I were raising our own kids, we were constantly concerned with what we used to wash their cribs, their pacifiers, the floors, and surfaces they played on. This is just a common-sense measure to help parents keep their kids safe and healthy.”
The "Household Product Labelling Act of 2009" would also help consumers make more informed decisions about purchasing household products containing ingredients that are safe for most people, but can be major irritants for adults and children with health conditions such as asthma. The proposed legislation would make such information readily available to consumers.
According to the packaging news website Packworld.com, the bill is popular among environmental groups and children's health organizations; and is viewed as "unneccessary and potentially confusing" by the cleaning products industry. The Soap and Detergent Association, for one, is concerned that there is not enough room to put additional information on their members' product labels. The association is promoting a voluntary initiative as an alternative to the bill that would encourage manufacturers to point consumers towards websites and 800 numbers for further information if they did not have room to list all ingredients on their product labels.
You can track the progress of the Household Product Labeling Act of 2009 at OpenCongress.
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great post.
It is really recommended to use environment safe cleaning products in house.
i have been using green cleaning products for various like carpet cleaning=, auto detailing and many other purposes.
Posted by: Green Cleaning Products | January 13, 2010 at 05:41 AM