Could you imagine if these companies were required to disclose health risks in their advertising? They’d become like all the pill ads on now. “Don’t spray Pledge into your mouth if you are pregnant, taking Viagra or have a brain.
The dirty little secrets of Glade, Pledge and Windex are all coming clean courtesy of venerable consumer products company SC Johnson. The Racine, Wis. outfit said last week it had launched a new website that lists the ingredients of more than 200 of its products. The WhatsInsideSCJohnson site represents the most significant disclosure to date of the ingredients found in household cleaning products.
Lack of disclosure has been a key complaint of green activists who have often alleged that many household cleaners contain toxic ingredients. Equally important, these environmental do-gooders have charged that some supposedly green products contain ingredients that are either unsafe or suspected of having strong health effects on people.
SC Johnson becomes the second major consumer products company to take this step. Clorox (CLX) actually began disclosing ingredients last year. The latest move puts huge pressure on Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and Procter-Gamble (PG) to make similar information available online to consumers.
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Current U.S. laws do not mandate full transparency on ingredients of cleaning products. Manufacturers have long claimed that revealing ingredients would release key trade secrets and make it easy to ascertain chemical formulas for these products. Environmental groups have long claims that this exclusion for products that are used in so many homes has allowed cleaning and beauty products companies, in particular, to foist unhealthy products on unsuspecting Americans.
#18–Jim==I haven’t done soap yet but I wonder if you have the “volume” comparison correct but the equivalency wrong??
Most home made soaps only use 1-2 Tablespoons per load whereas CONSUMER products use cups at a time.
Just wondering.
REPEAT: Try making some of your own stuff for the fun/knowledge/hobby of the thing. I LIKE knowing what is in the syrup I make and its not as sweet as store bought which I like. Its not “just” the money, but that certainly helps.
#16 Yes I was going to do a correction to the correction, but I called my therapist. He said that anyone that commented on it would be a bigger jackass than I was and to stop calling him at home.
#21, Bobbo, actually I liked your idea about syrup and I am definitely going to try it. (I should have mentioned that in my other post) I love too cook and rarely eat out… “mixing” your own food definitely has it’s advantages, bulk or not.
Re: my other post… I did just estimate how many cups were in a 55 oz box of Borax, etc., so I may be off somewhat… but I figured ‘eh’… close enough to illustrate a point.
#22–Wm==excellent. I think, you, me, and your therapist are all on the same page.
#23–Jim==my point was that the CONSUMER flim-flam is used at a PER CUP rate whereas the home made is used at the PER TABLESPOON rate–so given equal volumes of material costing the same, the home made is actually 16 times cheaper. I don’t KNOW THIS, I’m just asking.
CONSUMER flim-flam syrup is TOO SWEET for my taste so I have been cutting back on the sugar in my syrup but then it got too thin/watery–the viscosity was not like store bought which I actually like. So, I’ve been experimenting with gelatin, tapioca, pectin. They work good and don’t affect taste, but the cost is prohibitive given it doesn’t affect the taste??? Let us know what you come up with????
My friend wanted to run through the park naked so I sprayed him with Windex. It stopped him from streaking.
#25 Good one!
Re:#24, Bobbo…
The reason I chose the powder recipe is because I have some knowledge (from a guy I knew who manufactured detergents) of manufacturing tricks to make it seem that some products are more of a bargain. Some consumer brands fluff up their powder with air to increase volume… huge boxes that don’t weigh as much as small boxes. So the appearance is that you get more for less. There are no inert fillers in laundry detergent, so the only way to measure relative value is by weight, since all the ingredients are similar from brand to brand. I’m talking about standard laundry detergent without extra high tech ingredients… apples to apples. So that’s why I used weight.
BTW, most Laundry detergents don’t use soap as a surfactant because it can build up in the fibers of clothes and eventually ruin them.
The only thing I know about windex is that it leaves a nasty smell behind and doesn’t clean very well.
My house HAS TO be clean when chics come over – which is often. I buy my detergents, bleach, glass and surface, kitchen, and bathroom cleaners, as well as air fresheners, and the like at Big Lots. I don’t care what’s in ‘em and I’m certainly noy afraid of ‘em. When you’re eo the point of paranoia over what’s in glass cleaner, it’s time to get a life.
They should ban the sale of all of these household chemicals. They all end up in our water supplies.
#30 Oh, a fellow dirty houser. Keep fighting the PC fight.
Question of the post: “Ever Wonder What’s In Windex and Pledge and …”
Errr, no.