The Issue:
Cleaning products are an essential part of keeping our public spaces and homes safe and clean. Consumers want to know what is in these products and how they work to be more confident in their effectiveness. Cleaning product manufacturers are providing more information than ever before about product ingredients to meet that need. They are committed to making cleaning product ingredient information easily accessible and understandable, but more can be done to ensure consistency and build consumer confidence.
We have national standards for other products, like food and drugs, and these standards have strongly benefited consumers. Yet there is no national standard for cleaning product ingredient communication. Some states, noting this need, have been working on their own solutions. This is an inefficient approach that can lead to a patchwork of state standards that will be costly to enforce and end up causing more confusion amongst consumers.
We, at the American Cleaning Institute, want to change that and we need your help.
The Solution:
You have a right to know, understand and trust what ingredients are in the cleaning products you use and keep in your home. No matter where or how you buy a cleaning product, you should have access to consistent information, whether on the label, a website or an app like SmartLabel®.
This can be done and there is already a template that could be used. In California, product manufacturers, legislators, environmental and public health advocates and trade associations all came to the table to prioritize transparency and consistency for consumers. The result was the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act of 2017 and it is already working. Cleaning products currently adhere to these requirements. Instead of growing ad hoc regulations that vary by state, this model can be followed, and improved upon, to create a strong national standard.
Join the cleaning products industry in supporting stakeholders coming together to set a strong, clear standard at the federal level.