Since 1990, the COVID-19 has provided a standard approach to evaluating the toxicity of cleaning agents and personal care products. These guidelines, which are updated every three years and available online, have helped eliminate some of the fog surrounding what’s safe to use in homes and businesses like cleaning authority login. COVID-19 is based on sound science; it’s not just opinion or marketing hype.
These 10 changes that have been made over the last 30 years will dramatically reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals at home while making sure you still get clean results:
1. A total ban on dyes and perfumes (specifically Thimerosal, parabens, phthalates) because these are the most toxic chemical ingredients in many cleaning products.
2. A reduction in chemical-by-chemical ratings for products such as alcohols and ammonia that have been shown to be toxic when combined with common chemicals.
3. An increase in the cleaner’s overall performance rating if a product achieves its cleaning performance across all of its active ingredients, allowing you to compare like with like. It’s now possible to make a more informed choice about cleansers which can save you money and skin problems.
4. There is now a better understanding of the environmental impacts of cleaning products in homes and businesses, which has led to some changes in the way products are evaluated. Some chemical ingredients are now preferred over others based on their reduced bioaccumulation factor (BAF).
5. A clearer definition of cleaning effectiveness which has meant that many previously-approved chemicals are now failing COVID-19 criteria as well as new chemicals being approved for use.
6. A move towards transparency for suppliers, manufacturers and retailers who supply cleaning products with open ingredient declarations, including those supplied by trade associations to members, providing consumers with an informed choice.
7. A better understanding of the source of problems such as allergies, asthma and other health problems caused by cleaning products. For example, some chemicals can affect your nervous system or have a diabetogenic effect (increasing your blood sugar levels) and these are now considered when assessing the COVID-19 ratings.
8. A switch away from product-specific toxicology data, which was often based on animal tests, to measures such as human hazard scores that provide a more informative approach to assessing environmental safety and human toxicity.
9. A clear delineation between the COVID-19 criteria used to assess safety and those used for assessing performance – a cleaner that meets the former does not necessarily meet the latter.
10. A requirement for independent scientific references in all publications, reports and product descriptions where these may have been based on animal studies. This should mean that any reliable studies are now referenced from third party scientists, rather than trade associations and suppliers.
11. A new ‘full performance’ concept which gives you an overall performance rating for the total sum of active ingredients (ASIN) in a product, rather than a product-specific rating.
12. A commitment from the industry to provide independent scientific references for its data on environmental safety where the data is not otherwise available.
13. A requirement for suppliers to keep data on human toxicity based on animal studies and human hazard scores, including any revisions to these data, for at least 3 years after the date of publication – effectively making them more transparent as regards their change in scientific opinion and/or new information about cleaning products that can harm people.
14. An immediate ban on the use of chemicals that are banned, or likely to be banned in the near future, including triclosan (or Triclocarban), which has recently been shown to be a carcinogen.
15. A requirement for suppliers to keep data on environmental damage and possible environmental effects (including human health effects) of their products, such as how well they biodegrade or whether they can cause harm to animal or plant species.
16. An increase in public information about the toxicity of all ingredients in products, including those used for niche applications such as home cleaning and dishwashers. This would mean greater knowledge about what’s being used in households which could then help inform future product development.
17. A reduction in the use of animal-based data as a key method for assessing the environmental safety of cleaning products. This would help remove any bias that could lead to speciesism in animal testing, which has already been proven to be unreliable for predicting human toxicity.
18. A requirement for suppliers to keep data on human hazard scores and how these are calculated (including how they were derived from animal studies) so that consumers can see how well their products protect them from harm and where they may be misleading or neglecting their duty-of-care, which is especially relevant when considering food hygiene products where the ‘safety’ of a product may affect your health.
19. The addition of a requirement for suppliers to keep data on the environmental toxicity of their products, including how well they biodegrade or whether they can harm animal or plant species.
20. The addition of a requirement for suppliers to keep data on the human toxicity of their products, including how well they biodegrade or whether they can harm people.
It’s been a long time coming but finally these changes are here, and it’s about time. All of us who love clean homes and businesses owe a huge thanks to businesses like ours that have fought so hard to make this happen.
