Clorox Green Works…Not So Green For Your Health!

Published

on Apr 3, 2008

in Cleaning Products, Environment, Product Labeling

. Tags: popular.

I recently saw a Clorox Green Works commercial on the television and it really caught my attention as I noticed many times before that the natural product companies do not advertise on TV. We always seem to be bombarded by the same giant companies’ commercials over and over again, but not the environmental, natural or healthy ones (for obvious reasons I guess related to funding). But anyhow here it was, this Green Works commercial spewing all these beautiful things about the environment and your health and working as good as any other cleaner.

At first I was pleasantly surprised to see this commercial on TV, and my first thought was finally natural products are being promoted. Then came the end of the commercial and I found out that it was produced by the famous bleach company Clorox. So next a twinge a suspicion came over me, but willing to give them the benefit of the doubt I figured they must see that the future lies in natural products and hence are coming around.

A few days later I came across the following review online “Green Works Vs. Seventh Generation” written by Irene Lynn for the AC People’s Media Company. I was generally pleased with what she said and was really starting to think that perhaps the Clorox company is really trying to embed themselves into the natural product market. After all they did purchase Burt’s Bees back in November of 2007, so maybe this is the new face of Clorox. But still not much was being said about the health effects of these cleaning products.

Well, with a small bit of leftover suspicion I was excited to check this product out for myself and so I visited a local retailer. And what I found was not good news at all. I even snapped a picture as I wanted you to see what I saw on the front label too - look closely at the picture above again…

The Front Label

Ok so first of all, smack dab near the bottom in big letters are the words “Caution/Attention Irritant”. So naturally you start to think, how can a product that claims to be all natural have that warning right on the front - kind of ironic don’t you think?

The Back Label

So next I turned the product over to check the back for the ingredients, and guess what - there were none. All you get is a sentence or two telling you that it contains plant based ingredients. And another label, this one a big box telling you what an irritant it is and first aid measures. There were also 4 bulleted points giving you the positive qualities of this product on how it cleans just as well as any other traditional cleaner and how good it is for the environment as it is biodegradable, etc. However nothing was mentioned about it being safe for your health. I have no idea what the reason can be for not putting the ingredients, aside that they are protected under “trade secrets”. But in this day and age, I am sorry but I do not feel comfortable buying something of whose ingredients I can’t be sure of, and relying on front labels as I told you in another article is out of the question.

So what about our health?

I was naturally a bit disappointed by discovering this. I thought that finally here is a chance for a leading chemical cleaner company to set the standards for truly natural cleaning products, but I was wrong. Now, at the same time don’t get me wrong, I do applaud Clorox for at least taking a step in the right direction and by all means making a product environmentally friendly is very, very important and good. But a huge problem with all these cleaning products are the health effects they are causing the people who use them regularly or the people who get exposed to them.

I decided to research some reviews on this product from other people, and shockingly what I found was that most people approved this product with flying colors and seem very happy with it. The worst concern people had is that the lemon fragrance it has is overpowering after a bit of cleaning. So I bring this to your attention, what do you think that fragrance is made of and where is it going when you inhale it?

Again I am happy they made progress, but their labeling is still somewhat misleading.

For example on their company web site they have a write up on this entitled “Green Works…It Works Naturally.” There it explains that they are now part of an alliance with the Sierra Club - the most influential environmental grassroots company in the United States. And again all this is wonderful, but they are only focusing on the environment. Secondly what struck my attention in the write up also, was the line where it says that this product is “nonallergenic”. Clearly being and irritant with a caution label and being nonallergenic are two different things for me that just do not go hand in hand. If I am going to purchase a product labeled “natural”, I am expecting to feel safe using it and at this time I am sorry but I just cannot say that about Green Works.

Therefore to address these issues I have written to Clorox to clarify for me the following two things:

Why the product is not labeled properly with ingredients?
Why the product is labeled with a warning as an irritant if it is supposed to be all natural and nonallergenic?

I will post an update to this when Clorox gets back to me.

Conclusion

In the meantime, as to the performance of this product, I have no doubt that the product works well to clean what it is supposed to and for about $3.00 a bottle is a reasonable buy. But as for me, my health is just as important as the environment, if not more so, and therefore there is no way I am proceeding on with purchasing this product or endorsing it at this time.

Remember we do have other options from companies like Seventh Generation or even good old vinegar and baking soda. Also, we need to get the idea out of our heads that our homes need some super cleaners, if your house is that dirty then something else is wrong. You can do so much with simple baking soda and vinegar without the need for your house to smell like a chemical forest or chemical lemon, while your respiratory system pays the price!

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Hanlie says:

The deceptions run deep…

Apr 4th, 2008
JJ Loch says:

Great article. Thanks for checking these products out closely. We hesitate to use bleach because we don’t want it to filter out into our soil.

Thank you for the great blog review!!!

Hugs, JJ

Apr 5th, 2008
Chris says:

We must question advertising by any company, especially one that has made such an un-green product for so long. My wife and I use vinegar and baking soda instead of bleach. It gets the cloth diapers and bath tub as clean as any bleach would. Thanks for the great insight.

Apr 8th, 2008
Reader says:

The ingredients are on the bottle I bought. I was alarmed to see that corn ethanol is one of them. Is that safe??

Apr 14th, 2008
Evita says:

Dear Reader
I have now heard from another person too that they have the ingredients and I am suspecting that is the case if you are US based. I saw the Canadian bottles and they had no ingredient labels.

Anyhow as to your question about corn ethanol, that is simply corn alcohol that is probably much better than most of the chemicals they put in like the harsh acids and bases. It is in fact very similar to the alcohol compound people consume - so in terms of toxic chemical effects or allergens, that would be quite a safe ingredient. Don’t get me wrong I do not condone alcohol consumption but as far as cleaning is concerned that is the least likely ingredient to cause you any harm.

Apr 14th, 2008
Dan says:

As far as irritants go… put some vinegar on your skin and let it sit a few minutes. Trust me it will start to burn.

Apr 21st, 2008
Evita says:

Dan - yes vinegar is an acid, but if we are going to compare them on their “acidity” levels only. Then I can pay the cheaper price for vinegar and still have a clean house, with a biodegradable and straightforward product, or I can pay the higher price for a lemony scented irritant that misguides people into feeling safe about and around it, no?

Apr 21st, 2008
Jacob says:

I think you’re overreacting to the irritant warning. Vinegar and lemons are both irritants. Anything with more power as a solvent than water is going to be an irritant. If they don’t put the warning on there, some idiot is going to spray this in their eyes while bragging about their new healthy cleaners and then sue Chlorox.

I’d like to see actual research or facts to back up the problems with these cleaners before writing them off.

May 19th, 2008
Evita says:

Hi Jacob - thank you for the feedback, however as a biochemist, I thoroughly understand how vinegar and lemons can both be irritants - however speaking of which you do not find these “irritant” labels on vinegar, nevermind lemons.

I just wanted to comment back to you as I hope you did not misunderstand my article. I have no problem with a cleaner having an “irritant label” -just not one that claims to be non-allergenic and safe for your family. My beef with this product is that it is misleading and providing a lot of people out there with a false sense of security when it comes to their health.

As for tests, most of the stuff that we use out there has NOT been tested for safety in terms of health. We use it blindly and then watch our cancer rates soar and wonder why?
It is just now that independent companies are coming out with their own tests on these products. Most companies have to prove THEIR OWN safety to the FDA…and what do you think they are going to show…that their products are unsafe…I don’t think so. Anyway I want to leave you with a question also when considering any products you are going to use and their potential health effects:

If a product is under suspicion as to its health effects, do I have more to lose not using it until it is proven safe or using it and then finding out it was unsafe after all?

May 20th, 2008