Shannon Salembier

February 26, 2010

The battle between Earthjustice and several household cleaning giants over disclosure of toxic chemicals in cleaning products began this month in a Manhattan courtroom. The lawsuit gained its footing last September when Earthjustice, on behalf of several environmental and public health groups, sent letters to manufacturers of cleaning products informing them of their duty under New York law to file semiannual ingredients and health risks reports. In response to the letters, Seventh Generation, Sunshine Makers, Method, and several other companies complied with the little-known law; but Procter & Gamble, Church & Dwight, Reckitt Benckiser, and Colgate-Palmolive—the defendants in the suit—refused.

The suit invokes a law unique to New York authorizing the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to require manufacturers of household cleaning products to semiannually disclose their products' ingredients and information about the effects of those ingredients on human and environmental health. When the law became effective in 1976, the New York legislature and then Governor Rockefeller were concerned with the mounting problem of phosphates in detergents. At the time, phosphates were degrading the state's waterways and negatively impacting human health, much like the chemicals targeted in the present-day suit. On its website, Earthjustice cites independent studies that demonstrate a relationship between common ingredients in cleaning products and adverse health effects such as nerve damage and hormone disruption.

If Earthjustice prevails, the implications will likely spread beyond New York. To avoid similar lawsuits and the production of two product labels (one with an ingredient list and health information and one without), cleaning products manufacturers will likely disclose the information in other states as well. Moreover, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Congress are working towards reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which in its current state EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson describes as "an inadequate tool for providing the protection against chemical risks that the public rightfully expects." The EPA hopes that new legislation will address several "essential principles of reform," including science-based assessments by the manufacturers that chemicals are safe and do not endanger public health or the environment, and address transparency and public access to information. According to the TSCA Reform Center, a bill reforming the TSCA is imminent.

Sources

EarthJustice, Environmental and Health Groups Face Off Against Household Cleaner Giants in Court, http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2010/environmental-and-health-groups-face-off-against-household-cleaner-giants-in-court.html.

Posting of Rita R. Robison to The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, http://boomersurvive-thriveguide.typepad.com/the_survive_and_thrive_bo/2010/02/do-household-cleaners-contain-ingredients-linked-to-asthma-nerve-damage-and-other-health-effects-.html.

Posting of Trip Van Noppen to EarthJustice's Blog, http://unearthed.earthjustice.org/blog/2009-october/taking-toxic-chemicals-right-tool.

Susan Carpenter, Environmentalists to Sue for Disclosure of Chemicals in Cleaning Products, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 17, 2009, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/02/the-makers-of-t.html.

Thomas C. Burger & Anna R. Kuperstein, A Different Strategy for 2010 TSCA Reform, http://www.khlaw.com/showpublication.aspx?Show=3465.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Essential Principles for Reform of Chemicals Management Legislation, http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/principles.html.

Verified Petition, Women's Voice for the Earth v. Procter & Gamble Co., No. 102035-09 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Feb. 9, 2009).