To protect your health, it’s essential to know what’s in your cleaning products, especially if you have kids, who are more vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals.
One class of chemicals can lead to exposures throughout the home: quaternary ammonium compounds. Also referred to as quats or QACs, these chemicals are often used in cleaners because of their antiviral and antibacterial properties.
But despite their widespread use in sprays, wipes and aerosols, they’re not entirely harmless. Prolonged or chronic exposure to quats like benzalkonium chloride and dialkyl dimethyl ammonium chloride, or DDAC, has been linked to significant health harms like skin, eye and respiratory irritation, and can even lead to the development of asthma in otherwise healthy people. DDAC-based quats are also linked to reproductive toxicity and birth defects in laboratory animals.
Many people started using cleaners with quats during the COVID-19 pandemic, to try to reduce exposure from the virus on surfaces. But their use led to health hazards linked to the most toxic substances in this family of chemicals, because a cleaning product that contains quats used on your countertops and tables can leave a residue. Even if you use these products only infrequently, you can continue to be exposed.
Access to accurate product labels and awareness of the chemicals you are spraying and wiping to clean surfaces is essential to maintaining a healthy home.
Household harms
Studies have shown that the toxic chemicals in household cleaning products can contribute significantly to indoor air pollution. Another recent study found frequent use of cleaning products can increase the risk of childhood asthma.
In another recent study by EWG we found that common cleaning products, like glass and multipurpose cleaners, contain hundreds of volatile organic compounds linked to cancer and other health harms.
Thanks to a law California approved in 2017, many of these chemicals must be disclosed on the package or through a company’s website. This law took effect in 2020, and it’s given U.S. consumers more access to information about the chemicals in their cleaning products.
The DARK Act
But a new bill introduced in Congress on behalf of leading household cleaning product producers would deny consumers peace of mind and block California's law. This federal preemption bill is supported by various household cleaning product companies, like S.C. Johnson and Reckitt, which previously pledged to oppose federal preemption of laws like the California measure.
But some of these companies are no longer honoring their pledge to oppose a federal preemption.
Other companies, including Clorox, Henkel and Seventh Generation, are opposing the new bill so far and have pledged to honor their initial agreement.
The industry bill, called the Deny Americans the Right to Know, or DARK, Act by consumer advocates, would not only seek to preempt state law, but would also lead to an endless regulatory process that would produce far weaker disclosure requirements. If passed, far fewer chemicals would wind up being disclosed, and that’s bad for consumers’ right to know.
