WHY don't products have the ingredients listed on them anymore?

[Th1onein]

I just noticed this in the past couple of days. The oil I use to polish my wood has no ingredients listed on it. The soap I use to clean the wood has no ingredients listed on it. WHY?

What asshole pushed through a law allowing companies to leave this information off of their labels?

[hobbit709]

1. Three guesses

First two don't count

[warrior1]

2. what's the name brand

your using?

[valerief]

3. You wouldn't want to check the internet and find that they contained

carcinogens, now would you? I'm sure the RW Whore Machine was only protecting you when they stopped requiring them.

Fragrances are the biggest offenders. Their deadly toxins are trade secret carcinogens.

[Opusnone]

6. That's just BAD science

you're using to stifle free markets.

[valerief]

11. Ah, free markets, the reward for the obscenely rich. For the rest

of us, the poorhouse.

[BrotherBuzz]

4. Did these product list ingredients at one time?

[Th1onein]

14. YES, they did.

You know, "common sense" tells you that if a product has warnings on it regarding toxicity, they ought to list the damned ingredients.

[leftofthedial]

5. don't worry. the free market protects you.

we all know that if products were harmful, people would stop buying them. Corporations are highly motivated to keep you safe and happy. And corporations are far more efficient that some nameless bureaucrats in some wasteful gummint agency.

















Oh. :sarcasm:

[Xipe Totec]

7. National Security

they could tell you, but then you'd feel less secure.

:sarcasm:

[AIJ Alom]

8. Food security actually. These products are in fact so secure

that they are no longer required to list ingredients. Besides people with low food security can't buy them anyway. :sarcasm:

[kestrel91316]

9. I don't think soap is required to list its ingredients. The soaps

that do, do so voluntarily. And that's cosmetic-type soap, for use ON HUMANS. If it's a product for use on furniture, that would be a proprietary formula or trade secret and as such not subject to disclosure.

I don't clean my wood with soap. Last time I did it, I used vinegar. And the next time I polish I will use some sort of homemade beeswax/oil concoction, I suspect. That way I KNOW what's in it.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

10. Yes, only products for people and animals must bear full ingredient lists

The FDA requires ingredient listings on any products ingested, applied or otherwise consumed by humans and animals - food, drugs, dietary supplements and cosmetics including cleansers, lotions etc.

Household chemicals are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which requires hazardous substance labeling if a product contains ingredients that are toxic, corrosive, irritating or flammable/combustible. Labels must bear clear warnings, instructions for handling and usage, and first aid advice. Nonhazardous ingredients are considered proprietary information.

Insecticides, fungicides and rodenticides are controlled by the EPA.

The government is not trying to kill us with household cleaners. If you don't believe it, try making your own. The web is filled with free tips, like these recipes for economical, environmentally friendly cleaning products:

http://organizedhome.com/content-8.html

[kestrel91316]

12. Thank you for a succinct, common-sense response.

Hysteria about chemicals is too common on this board............sigh.

[Th1onein]

15. HEY!

I have the right to know what ingredients I'm putting in my house, on my tables, on my floors, etc.

It's not hysteria. It's common sense.

[kestrel91316]

17. Well, not quite. In the US you have the right to know if any

potentially toxic substances are in the products you use in the home. Which is why they have information on the label regarding safe use and what to do if someone gets the product in or on them.

No company should be required to divulge proprietary information about their formulas other than information about known hazards. Which is what they already do.

If you insist on knowing exactly what is in your cleaning products, MAKE THEM YOURSELF. I've been doing it for years. It's amazing how cheap and simple it is to use safe substances like lemon juice or baking soda or vinegar or ammonia. You don't have the right to know someone's secret formula.

[Th1onein]

19. I disagree about those "rights."

If you want to be invited into my house, you need to tell me who you are. They shouldn't be able to sell the product to us if we don't know what's in it. Period. Now, as to formulas, there's a lot more to a formula than just ingredients. You can make a cake with an egg, some flour, etc., but you can't make a cake with 250,000 eggs and one cup of flour.

[kestrel91316]

21. Don't harp on me about it. I'm just telling you the way things are.

If you think you have additional consumer rights that are being violated, I suggest you tackle it through the legal system and not get nasty with me.

[Th1onein]

23. No one is getting nasty with you.

The term is "having a discussion." If someone disagrees with you, there is not necessarily anything personal about it, and you shouldn't take it as such.

[valerief]

13. Not required for fragrances, that mystery bucket of toxic fumes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PerfumeNatural versus synthetic aromatics

Many natural aroma materials are in fact inherently toxic and are either banned or restricted by the International Fragrance Association (IFRA). However, many synthetic materials are known carcinogens.

Many natural materials and essential oil contain the same chemicals used in perfumes that are classified as allergens, many of them at higher concentrations.

In the distillation of natural essential oils any biocides (including pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides) that have been applied while the plant is growing may be concentrated into the essential oil making the oil toxic. Unless the essential oil is distilled from a certified "organic" origin, it may be dangerous.

The move towards the almost exclusive use of synthetics in contemporary perfumery appears to have more to do with replicability and expense than concerns with safety. Natural ingredients vary even by where they are harvested, what time of year, and even the time of day. Chemicals, in contrast, are always reliably the same.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

22. Your last paragraph is hilarious, if viewed in a certain way.

:rofl:

[eppur_se_muova]

16. Sadly, much of this began under Clinton.

I know some people are put off by long chemical names in a list of ingredients. But each one of those chemicals can be located in reference books, tables, and online, so you can inform yourself as to what it is you are buying, if you are willing to take the effort.

Under Clinton the rules were changed so that it was no longer necessary to list the actual chemicals, but only their **intended** function. So instead of listing actual chemical names (which describe the structure of the chemical), they list things like "surfactant", "foaming agent", "artificial color", etc. The flaw in this logic is, obviously, the Law of Unintended Consequences. You can add a particular compound to function as a surfactant, but it may -- indeed almost inevitably will -- exhibit other behavior than the one desired. Obviously, the best ingredients give the maximum desired result with a minimum of undesired results, but those unwanted effects cannot be assumed to be nonexistent, especially once cost enters the picture. Since many different chemicals may give the desired effect -- there are many types of surfactants, for examples -- the current labeling system does not provide much usable information at all about what ingredients are present.

I used to make choices about what cleaning agents I bought based on their ingredients. Now that the ingredients aren't listed, I don't feel safe buying them, so I don't buy them.

Of course the Repugs have weakened the regulations still further, so that some products now list no ingredients at all.

(One noteworth example: I saw a urinal cake ("deodorizer") for sale in the drugstore which listed its ONLY ingredient as p-dichlorobenzene. http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts10.html )

[Tesha]

18. Google for the "MSDS"

Google for the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) associated with the
product. Whether they publish the ingredients on their container or
not, if the manufacturer expects to sell their product into any work-
place in America, they *MUST* publish an MSDS and any workplace
that uses that product *MUST* display the MSDS somewhere for
employees to peruse.

You can find out a lot about all sorts of things by looking for
the MSDS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Material_safety_data_sheet

Tesha

[Th1onein]

20. Thank you, Tesha!

Very good idea! I'll do that!

[Squatch]

24. I use a nice, neutral lotion to polish my wood.

:evilgrin: