The dirt on clean

Environmental groups are trying to force the makers of household cleaners to reveal exactly what they put in their products.

Earthjustice, along with several other conservation and health groups, filed a lawsuit against the nation’s largest manufacturers of household cleaning products—including Procter & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive—at the state Supreme Court in New York City last week.

Citing a New York state law signed back in the ’70s by former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, reported the Times Union, the groups claim the companies are already required to list the ingredients. Full disclosure is necessary, argue the plaintiffs, because some of the chemicals are linked to health problems, including asthma, allergies, damage to the reproductive system and birth defects.