Maybe “natural” Means “toxic” Today - The Clorox Green Works Update

Published

on Apr 9, 2008

in Cleaning Products, Health, Product Labeling

. Tags: popular.

As I told you in the previous article I wrote “Clorox Green Works…Not So Green for Your Health“, I had a few unanswered questions as to the safety of the product when it comes to our health. After posting that article, I wrote to Clorox Customer Service Department and after an email from them, which told me nothing, and another one from me and finally another one from them here is where the situation stands.

Don’t hold your breath…it isn’t too encouraging where your health is concerned. What it is, is eye opening as to how these companies can get away with what they say!

Ok so to remind you, in my first email I had 2 questions for Clorox regarding their Green Works cleaners, which were:

Why are the ingredients not on the bottle? And what are the ingredients?

Why is it labeled with a caution label as an irritant, if it is all natural from plant based ingredients?

Here was the response from the Clorox Customer Service Department(unedited):

Thank you for contacting us about Green Works Natural All Purpose Cleaner Spray. We always appreciate hearing from our consumers. We sincerely regret any inconvenience this problem may have caused you. We would be more than happy to share with you the ingredients in our Green Works products. First, which one are you specifically needing to know?

Even though these products are all natural, we still are required to place the eye irritant on the label, because this product is not designed in that way.

Again, thank you for contacting us.

Sincerely,
Tim Sharp
Consumer Response Representative
Consumer Services

So I do not know about you but I do not feel like I got much in terms of answers to my questions from that, or understood at all what the second part meant. So I wrote to them again. Here was the next email I sent (unedited):

Hello Tim

Thank you for getting back to me so promptly. As for the ingredients my first question was how come they are not on the products to start with? In Canada the FDA passed a law in 2006 for all personal products to have ingredients on the packages, I would have assumed that any company would put their ingredients on the product even if it is a cleaner to give the consumer more choice in deciding what is good for them and also to empower customers.

As for which product ingredients I am interested in, all of them actually. Before I use a purchase/use a product I would like to know what I am using and hence if you could email me the ingredients of the ALL PURPOSE CLEANER, BATHROOM CLEANER, DILUTABLE CLEANER, GLASS AND SURFACE CLEANER, and TOILET BOWL CLEANER.

Finally I am not sure I understand what you mean in the below statement when you say “Even though these products are all natural, we still are required to place the eye irritant on the label, because this product is not designed in that way” - if you could please explain what you mean they are not designed in THAT way?

Thank you again in advance for your help and reply.

And here is the email I got back in response to that one, again unedited:

Thank you for contacting us about Green Works Natural All Purpose Cleaner Spray. We always appreciate hearing from our consumers. We sincerely regret any inconvenience this problem may have caused you.

The ingredients for the GreenWorks Natural All Purpose Cleaner are; coconut-based cleaning agents, corn-based ethanol, essential lemon oil, and filtered water.

The ingredients for the Green Works Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner are; coconut-based cleaning agents, corn-based ethanol, essential lemon oil, citric acid, lactic acid, and filtered water.

The ingredients for the Green Works Natural Dilutable Cleaner are; coconut-based cleaning agents, corn-based ethanol, essential lemon oil, and filtered water.

The ingredients for the Green Works Natural Bathroom Cleaner are; coconut-based cleaning agents, essential lemon oil, and glycolic acid.

The ingredients for the Green Works Natural Glass & Surface Cleaner are; coconut-based cleaning agents, corn-based ethanol, essential lemon oil, and filtered water.

As for the statement regarding the eye irritant, we were simply stated that our products are not intended to be in a consumer’s eyes. We are required to place the warning on the bottle, whether or not the products are all natural.

Again, thank you for contacting us.

Sincerely,
Tim Sharp
Consumer Response Representative
Consumer Services

Are you thinking what I am thinking…come on, give me a break. Why do the large corporations continue to think that the general public needs to be deceived and is so dumb they are not going to look into this at face value for what it is.

So before I tell you my final thoughts on the Clorox Green Works products, I just have to say one thing. In my last article I applauded them for going green, but when a company comes across as dishonest, like they have something to hide and does not give the customer the benefit of the doubt for knowing better - well that is where I pull the plug on supporting them. I have no problem never buying their products, as I do not already. My only dilemma will be what to do with Burt’s Bees as Clorox owns them and I do like some of their products. But I guess ultimately I would be supporting Burt’s Bees still. We’ll see where that is concerned but for now let us get back to that last email.

My views based on this set of emails are as follows:

My original question was still not answered after 2 emails - why the ingredients are not there in the first place.

I engage peace into all areas of my life and try to give others the benefit of the doubt without looking for drama, but at the same time I am not naïve. When a company cannot even answer why they are not posting their ingredients - that to me is not positive news about the product at all.

As for the ingredients I was given, I do not for a second believe that that is the completely accurate version of them. Do you want to know why? Read the ingredients yourself again…

Coconut-based cleaning agents - sounds nice right, well what are they? And if you notice it does not say coconut cleaning agents, but coconut based cleaning agents. There is a big difference in the wording and what that actually means from a chemists point of view.

Corn-based ethanol - I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this one and assume it is just the alcohol extracted from the plant.

Essential Lemon Oil - could be natural and could be synthetic, you really do not know its exact source.

Glycolic Acid - you may notice this name from some cosmetic products which act as strong chemical peels. Yes it is plant derived - but if you have not read some of my other articles, like “The story of personal care products in the 21^st century” - just because it is from plants does not mean it is automatically good for you. Glycolic acid is chemically classified as a strong irritant [source glycolic acid MSDS]. Do I need to say more?

Citric Acid - this one may be recognized as the famous acid found in citrus fruits, but do not kid yourself, acids come in various strengths (i.e. concentrations) and since we do not know this concentration don’t start feeling too safe with this one yet. Citric acid also is a slight irritant as it is nonetheless an ACID. [source Citric Acid MSDS]

Lactic Acid - and yes you may recognize this name from things like yogurt or what is made in your muscles after heavy duty exercise. Again seeing that we do not know the concentration of this acid we cannot conclude much about it. Although something tells me it is nothing close to what yogurt has. And if you still need a clue about this one, if you ever did have lactic acid build up, did you feel good? I didn’t think so, it is toxic to your body and that is why body tries as quickly as possible to convert it into something less toxic like pyruvic acid that your body can use. Anyway if you are still not convinced lactic acid is considered a strong irritant, read its MSDS sheet. [lactic acid MSDS]

So as a final proof, I looked up each of the products’ own MSDS sheets which Clorox provides on their site. There is lots of good information there, but I just want to mention to you the product pH’s.

The all purpose cleaner has a pH of around 7, so that is very good - the only product possibly safe to use.
The toilet bowl cleaner has a pH of about 2.1! Ouch - that is one heavy duty corrosive acid!
The bathroom cleaner has a pH of about 2.7! Another strongly corrosive acid.
The dilutable cleaner has a pH of about 10.3 - and that makes it a pretty strong, corrosive base.
The glass and surface cleaner has a pH of about 10-11, which makes it another strong base with corrosive, alkaline properties.

So to all you people who have tried it and claim that it works - of course it works, it eats away through everything, including your skin!

Finally as to Mr. Sharp’s last comment as to why they have to label it with a “Caution - Irritant” label, he states that it was not meant to be in a consumer’s eyes - well neither is milk and it isn’t labeled with such a warning.

So ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case. Yes these ingredients are biodegradable but in no way are they good for your health, to touch, to breathe in, or to get the fumes absorbed through the membranes of your eyes (a common way fumes can enter our system).

All I have to say is that it is amazing what the word “natural” can mean today. I am afraid that this word will continue to be largely misused and continue to give the public a false sense of safety. And that is why research is your only option - again it is not fair that the onus should be put on you - but until these companies truly start thinking about us instead of their own pockets that is the way it is going to be.

Oh and if you are wondering if I will be contacting Clorox again regarding this issue - the answer is no. They had their chance to be honest, they chose not to and so on my part the case as I mentioned above is closed. What remains now is just to educate as many people as possible on this!

For your reference here are the MSDS sheets for each of the Clorox Green Works products, from their web site. At least they cannot fib the truth there (I hope) - I am also sure they are not banking on a lot of people seeing them :)

Clorox Green Works All Purpose Cleaner

Clorox Green Works Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Clorox Green Works Bathroom Cleaner

Clorox Green Works Dilutable Cleaner

Clorox Green Works Glass and Surface Cleaner

*(if you are wondering where the word natural is…I just could not make myself insert it in the above names - I am sure you understand)

Bookmark, Share, or Email this page:

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Hanlie says:

You did a great job here!

Apr 10th, 2008
Green Home Improvements says:

I bought a bottle of that stuff a couple of weeks ago with plans to test it and write about it on my site. It looks like you saved me from having to actually clean my house.

Good job on getting past the label! Most people buy anything that is labeled green without any thought about the product actually being green.

Apr 10th, 2008
Seth says:

You seem to indicate that if a product is natural then it shouldn’t be toxic, and that’s just not true. Poisin Ivy, for instance, is a common toxic plant, and it is natural. Smallpox is also natural.

‘Natural’ sounds good but doesn’t mean that a product is going to be harmless.

As for the labels, if it’s not required by the govt or demanded by the consumers, it’s not on there. Space on labels is extremely valuable to the manufacturer, and if none of the competitors are listing the ingredients then they wouldn’t either.

Apr 10th, 2008
Evita says:

Seth - you are right that if a product is natural it does NOT mean it is healthy and I do stress that in several of my articles. See the problem is that the general public assumes that natural means good for their health and THAT is the myth that I am trying to dispel.

As for space on labels, I have to disagree with you here, manufacturers seem to have no problem putting on huge slogans and pretty pictures. If they were honest they would focus on important stuff like ingredients first instead of building in us a false sense of safety. Why not give us the option to research the ingredients for ourselves? And there are many clever ways to expand labels as some companies do already.

And if a company is trying to go “green” I would think they would be leaders, not followers of what others are doing.

Apr 10th, 2008
Srinidhi says:

Wonderful blog and it is truly a whistle blowing kind. I have a blog in which I write about my impressions of what I read, see and experience. Do take a look at Discover the World and Passenger Views and leave your feedback

Apr 11th, 2008
Green Home Improvements says:

Evita, what’s you opinion on Simple Green? If my memory is correct, it is labeled as non-toxic, is smells good (in my opinion), and it does a good job cleaning.

Apr 28th, 2008
Evita says:

Hi Green Home Improvements,

I have never personally tried Simple Green, but I know they do have quite a good reputation in terms of safety for the environment and generally speaking health. Their MSDS sheets look pretty good, but to give you a really good opinion on health safety I would need to see what is exactly in their ingredients.

I will try to look more into them in the future.

Apr 28th, 2008
Carrie Anne says:

I bought Green Works natural all purpose cleaner and I used it on my tub today. It had a pleasant smell but it didn’t smell like it was all natural. I’ve been using other natural products and it didn’t smell like them. I looked on the bottle and it doesn’t say anywhere where it’s non toxic. The funny thing is right before I started to use it I was wondering if it really did have products in it that like you said are okay for your health. So, I got on the net and started searching around for information about it. I’m very glad that you wrote this article because I believe you are very right about what you said about companies saying things are all natural and in the end the products turn out to be not healthy for the consumer. I’m not saying this product doesn’t have naturnal ingredients in it but I feel that the ingredients that they did choose could have been a whole lot better.

Jul 14th, 2008
Matt says:

How do you expect for a cleaner to be able to clean things if it’s completely nontoxic?

Jul 18th, 2008
Evita says:

Hi Matt

To answer your question, we as a society have unfortunately become very accepting and used to cleaning products being toxic - when there are hundreds of products that clean just as well and are non-toxic.

Being toxic does not make something a good cleaner - yes it will kill micro organisms but seeing that you are made of cells just as most of them are - you have to expect acute and/or perhaps chronic changes in your system too from those chemicals.

So to give you a few examples: there are numerous vegetable soaps that clean and are non-toxic, there is always the good old baking soda and vinegar, and there are new companies making non-toxic cleaners as well like Dr.Bonner’s products.

So the choices are there, but it is first up to us to recognize that cleaning products should not have to harm us while cleaning and at the same time the fact that our society is obsessed with cleaning products. In present times in North America, we are starting to see that the the risks of cleaning products are starting to outweigh their benefits through the high levels of respiratory illnesses, auto-immune disease, allergies and skin infections.

Studies prove that the healthiest children for example grow up on farms not in sterilized homes…that gives one something to consider too.

Anyway I hope that answers your question.

Jul 28th, 2008
Matt says:

Vinegar is still toxic, maybe not as toxic as bleach, but it’s not something I wouldn’t be pleased to be spraying into my eyes. That’s the point I was trying to make; there are tons of natural things that are toxic (death cap mushrooms anyone?), so demanding that a ‘natural’ product not have a ‘Caution: eye irritant’ label is ridiculous.

I agree that we are obsessed with being sterile and that that’s probably not the best way to be. But you can also go to the other extreme. If you demand that a cleaning product not have any eye irritant warning then you are asking that your cleaning product be basically luke warm water, and that’s not going to be an effective cleaner.

Jul 28th, 2008
Evita says:

Yes Matt, vinegar can be toxic and burn your eyes and skin and so can poisonous mushrooms. Many times on this site I state the fact that natural or from nature does not mean necessarily good or non-toxic - however there is a big definition for toxic that perhaps I should be better explaining:

–> toxic as in burn your eyes a little or toxic as in give you cancer?

The point with the Green Works is just the fact that they are going after the natural cleaning market and giving people a false sense of security. To me they are just another cleaning product and I would have no problem with them and all their caution labels if it were not for the fact that they are trying to advertise like something from a natural health food store.

As for me I will still use vinegar and baking soda any day over any commercial cleaner as I know it will clean well and not give me the risk of cancer or any other allergy at the same time.

Jul 28th, 2008
Matt says:

this is the question you asked Clorox: “Why is it labeled with a caution label as an irritant, if it is all natural from plant based ingredients?”

Do you rail against vinegar makers with similar questions? I doubt it. I’m not trying to defend Clorox’s product, I know nothing about it. It seems to me you are attacking this product more because of who makes it than because of what the product actually is.

Jul 28th, 2008
Bill says:

You asked…”Why is it labeled with a caution label as an irritant, if it is all natural from plant based ingredients?”

Then you answered your question…

“just because it is from plants does not mean it is automatically good for you.”

Plenty of natural things are poisonous. Hence…Earth Options by Raid for roaches and ants. I live in a marina and wanted a product that was non toxic to fish. All I can say is, it was the only thing I could find so I went with it.

The reason I landed on your site was to find out how toxic bleach is toxic to our water supply and environment. I’ve read that it breaks down to salt and water…but come on..what else? I just don’t think bleach should be allowed to used.

Nov 15th, 2008
Evita says:

Hello Bill

Thank you for your feedback and query! So to answer your question and touch upon what you said, here goes my reply:

1. First I am not sure if when you said “it was the only thing I could find, so I went with it” you meant Green Works.

In terms of Green Works it does not contain bleach - this is the one line in the Clorox line of products that does not use any bleach so that is very good.

The other good thing going for it, is that it is an environmentally friendly product.

Where my concern has and still comes in is when it comes to our health.

2. Hence that is why I questioned the label as an irritant, etc. My issue is that many people who will not look into it, will get a false security of how good the product is for them because of the way it is marketed as “natural”. Even though our world and labels are changing. Most people still feel very secure when they hear or see something labeled as natural, where using that product is concerned.

So my whole point of writing this article is to get people to see deeper and question the product not just take the company’s words at face value as those are often put on in their favor, not the publics.

3. Finally where bleach is concerned, I really have to say first that I admire your concern for the environment. It is something that is such a beautiful trait to have, especially today when our Earth needs so much healing.

Bleach does not just break down to salt and water, if it did, then bleach would be “an environmentally safe product” (relatively speaking as salt is not good in our fresh waters either)
BUT it isn’t!

Bleach is called SODIUM HYPOCHLORITE (NaClO) and because it is made of Na (the sodium) and the Cl (the chlorine) which is what typical table salt is and then an extra oxygen - it may give people that do not have a deeper understanding of chemistry a false idea that the oxygen just separates and the rest is salt in the water.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The key to understanding chemistry is to look at how an atom here or there can mean the difference between a poisonous substance versus a safe substance is the example of water and hydrogen peroxide. Water is H2O and hydrogen peroxide is H2O2, so one may think “oh what’s another oxygen”, right? Wrong.

Chemisty does not work that way. Every extra or different atom added or removed completely (usually) changes the properties of that substance.

Hence bleach breaks down into many volatile compounds, it just depends what other chemical it meets. And in today’s polluted water with thousands of other chemicals it meets a lot. Hence the degradation of many aquatic ecosystems because of it.

So what I would say is that if you are comfortable in using Clorox Green Works where your health is concerned, then by all means use it and it is environmentally friendly.

BUT I personally find it funny that a company that all of a sudden cares so much about the environment through “Green Works” refuses to remove one of the worst things for the environment from its product line a little hypocritical to say the least and suspicious as to their products. Hence cannot and will not support it.

And you are so right, bleach should not be allowed to use, especially given how fragile our ecosystems already are today. What it does to fish and coral reefs, etc, is really tragic.

Nov 16th, 2008

Evolving Wellness^TM

Practical Applications and Information for Optimal Health and Living Naturally