What chemicals are the manufacturers of cleaning products trying to hide?

As spring cleaning season enters full swing, household cleaner manufacturing giants are fighting hard to keep secret the chemical ingredients in their products and the health risks they pose. But Earthjustice and Women's Voices for the Earth -- arguing that sunlight is the best disinfectant -- are fighting just as hard to get information into consumers' hands so they can make informed choices about how to protect their families from toxic chemicals.

There's a lot at stake: studies show links between chemicals in common household cleaners and respiratory irritation, asthma, and allergies. Independent research has also documented troubling hormone-disrupting qualities of alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs) -- commonly found in detergents, disinfectants, stain removers, and floor cleaners. And because many cleaning chemicals survive the sewage system and are released into streams, there is growing concern that such chemicals pose a threat to fish and other aquatic wildlife, causing, among other things, the "feminization" of male fish and throwing ecosystems out of balance.

Ingredient disclosure requirements are virtually non-existent in the United States; the exception is a long-forgotten New York state law which requires household and commercial cleaner companies selling their products in New York to file semi-annual reports with the state listing the chemicals contained in their products and describing any company research on these chemicals' health and environmental effects. But in the three decades since the 1976 law was passed, companies failed to file a single report.

In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Earthjustice attorney Keri Powell in the Northeast office is taking Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight, and Reckitt-Benckiser to court for failing to comply with this law. Powell is representing a coalition of state and national groups in the case: Women's Voices for the Earth, Environmental Advocates of New York, New York Public Interest Research Group, Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, and American Lung Association in New York.

The case has a decidedly David and Goliath flavor. Each company targeted in the case has retained a separate law firm, leaving Powell up against four of the biggest corporate firms in the country.

But already some companies are falling into line. In response to Earthjustice's initial request California-based Sunshine Makers, Inc. (manufacturers of Simple Green products), filed a report with the state for the first time. And just three weeks after Earthjustice filed its case, SC Johnson (manufacturer of Windex, Pledge and Glade) announced it would begin disclosing the chemical ingredients in its products through product labels and a website.

The case could have national implications. Although New York's reporting law has largely been forgotten, its mere existence means the state leads the nation in household cleaner right-to-know laws. A successful court case could raise the bar across the country. And unless companies begin manufacturing specific products for the New York market, the information companies provide to the state would be applicable to cleaning products sold throughout the country. There's no reason why this information should not travel across state lines and we hope consumer advocates across the country will help spread this information far and wide.