In California, Cleaning Products Now Must Come Clean

Last Sunday, Governor Jerry Brown of California signed a law mandating that manufacturers of cleaning products sold in the state disclose all the chemicals they contain. The law will apply to detergents, soaps, polishes, air fresheners, automotive cleansers and others.

The bill, known as the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act, is believed to be the first such requirement in the US, and is hoped to inspire – or even force – a wave of similar legislation.

“People around the country and especially Californians are demanding more disclosure about the chemicals in products we use,” said State Senator Ricardo Lara. “The science is clear, and we have seen the data about how cleaning product chemicals affect parents, children, people with pre-existing conditions, and workers who use these products all day, every day.”

The manufacturers will have to make the disclosures online by 2020, and on products' labels by 2021. At that point, knock-on effects could be great: Manufacturers will likely find it unwieldy – and expensive – to produce one set of labels for California and different labels for other states. This will serve an incentive for the companies to extend full disclosure to wherever their products are available – even across the entire country.

Predictably, the bill has been opposed by industry groups. But several companies that will be directly affected by the legislation have supported it, including Seventh Generation, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Eco Lab and Reckitt Benckiser. Whatever their reasons, good for them.

This is the kind of prairie fire we all should be fanning.

--By Khalila Jonston