While the Covid-19 has exploded gross sales of cleansing merchandise, the UFC-Que Choisir, on the premise of a decryption of 244 of the commonest references1, alert on poisonous substances all too usually current in these merchandise. Faced with a particularly lax regulatory framework when it comes to eradication of undesirable substances and knowledge, the affiliation urges the general public authorities to behave to guard the well being and setting of shoppers, and calls on them to affect the market by favoring the most secure merchandise showing in its particular problem “Household products eliminate toxins”.
The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted shoppers to redouble their efforts to scrub their properties … on the threat of exposing themselves to a number of unwanted substances: allergens, carcinogens or endocrine disruptors. Indeed all cleansing merchandise, together with probably the most innocent, can expose day by day to poisonous molecules, and this even by respecting the precautions of use decreed by the producer… And the absence of an exhaustive checklist of all of the elements on packaging makes this hunt for unwanted substances significantly advanced.
To make clear this division, the specialists from UFC-Que Choisir studied the composition of 244 family merchandise (detergents, softeners, window cleaners, furnishings, kitchen and WC, and so forth.), with regard to the dangers to human well being and the setting. The outcomes are staggering: opposite to the guarantees of harmlessness usually displayed on packaging, almost one in two deciphered merchandise (44%) is filled with harmful compounds.
A day by day cocktail of substances dangerous to well being
Among the least recommendable merchandise, we observe specifically multi-use detergents and liquid detergents which abuse perfumes and allergenic preservatives. But probably the most problematic are definitely the softeners which expose our pores and skin all through the day to a cocktail of poisonous substances, in addition to the bathroom blocks which not solely contribute to the emission of pollution into the air, however are additionally significantly dangerous. for the setting as a consequence of their repetitive discharges into wastewater.
Buying massive manufacturers usually does not assist. Thus, lots of them use perfumes which might be most likely or suspected of being poisonous for replica and / or suspected of being endocrine disruptors and located, for instance, in multi-use cleaners’Ajax Multisurface charges‘ or ‘St Marc Bicarbonate Liquid‘, in WC blocks’Harpic Bloc energetic contemporary tropical flowers‘ or ‘Brief WC Power activ unique Hawaii‘2. Some softeners are veritable “cocktails” of dangerous merchandise, akin to’Cajoline Intense gourmand ardour‘which has 5 allergenic compounds3, or ‘Lenor Soaring Air‘which has eight4.
Health, setting: the unfounded guarantees of producers
To higher persuade shoppers of the security of their merchandise, producers are rising the variety of mentions of the sort ‘delicate‘ or ‘ecological‘, evocative photographs of nature and even the highlighting of conventional elements akin to black cleaning soap or Marseille cleaning soap. But the truth is sort of completely different: regardless of the reassuring picture of an toddler on the label, the material softener ‘Soupline Grand air” comprises a perfume poisonous to replica, suspected of being endocrine disruptor5. The wipes’Carolin Multipurpose Baking‘6, the anti-lime ‘Cif Plain with white vinegar‘6, the laundry ‘Parsley with Marseille cleaning soap bouquet de Provence‘7 and ‘Skip Ultimate Sensitive‘7 comprise preservatives that aren’t solely very allergenic, but additionally poisonous to aquatic organisms. As for dishwashing liquid from ‘Lemon freshness paic‘who prides himself on a components’98% biodegradable‘, it comprises a perfume and two preservatives with dangerous and lengthy-lasting results on the setting8. If we observe a number of inexperienced merchandise launched by main manufacturers (akin to’Cillit bang‘with’Powerful naturally‘), these are nonetheless too uncommon on the cabinets. Unlike the inexperienced manufacturers evaluated (l’Arbre Vert, Maison Verte, Rainett, and so forth.) hold their promise and are virtually faultless. Indeed, their merchandise usually profit from the official European ecolabel, identifiable by its little inexperienced flower, which limits substances dangerous to well being and ensures a low environmental influence.
Decades after its combat towards phosphate in laundry detergents, UFC-Que Choisir is outraged by the persistence of undesirable substances in family merchandise and urges public authorities to strengthen the preservation of the well being and setting of shoppers by :
- prohibiting in formulations carcinogenic, mutagenic, poisonous for replica and endocrine disrupting compounds;
- together with on the packaging the checklist of all of the elements current within the components as for beauty merchandise.
In the meantime, the affiliation calls on shoppers to play their position of market regulator by favoring the most secure merchandise listed in its sensible quantity.
Notes
(1) Complete ends in Practice n ° 126 at the moment on newsstands and on the net.
(2) Butylphenyl methylpropional and for Brief WC energy activ ‘unique Hawai Tetrahydroxo-4-methyl-2- (2-methylprop-1-enyl) pyranne.
(3) Alpha-isomethylionone, Limonene, Coumarin, Eugenol, Citronellol.
(4) Benzisothiazolinone, Citronellol, Eugenol, Limonene, Alpha-isomethyl-ionone, Coumarin, Linalool, Geraniol.
(5) Butylphenyl methylpropional.
(6) Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Benzisothiazolinone.
(7) Methylisothiazolinone and Octylisothiazolinone.
(8) Limonene, methylisothiazolinone, methylchloroisothiazolinone.
