CR Consumer Rising
Consumer education & awareness
The home index · Phase 1

Cleaning products don’t have to list everything. Here’s what the studies say is in them.

We don’t rate your cleaning products. We reveal them. What stays in your home is up to you.

Food has a nutrition label. Cosmetics list every ingredient. Cleaning products — the sprays, soaps, and detergents used in every room of the house — were long exempt from telling you what’s inside. California’s Cleaning Product Right to Know Act (SB 258, 2017) began changing that, which is the only reason some of what follows is knowable at all. Below: 36 chemicals found in household products — what each one is, where it shows up, and what U.S. health agencies report about it. Every claim links to its source. No ratings, no verdicts, no “avoid” lists. The facts are the facts; you decide what they mean.

36
household chemicals documented
65
sourced facts, each linked to a primary source
4
primary source families: ATSDR/CDC, US EPA, FDA, NIH/PubMed
0
verdicts, ratings, or “avoid” labels — by editorial rule
01

The chemicals

Search any name. Open an entry for what it is, where it’s found, the sourced facts, and its regulatory status in the US, EU, and California.

02

Methodology & disclaimer

How this index was built — and what it is not.

Methodology. Phase 1 covered 17 chemicals commonly found in household cleaning and laundry products, solvents, and air fresheners. Phase 2 (October 2026) added 19 more: surfactants (SLS, SLES, cocamide DEA, DEA/MEA/TEA), formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (DMDM hydantoin, quaternium-15, bronopol, imidazolidinyl urea, diazolidinyl urea), parabens, fragrance transparency (the "fragrance" label term and the 26 EU fragrance allergens), phosphates (STPP), alkylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs), hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, naphtha/petroleum distillates, optical brighteners, and EDTA. Candidate chemicals were verified one by one against primary sources; any candidate that could not be sourced to an opened primary document was dropped rather than written from memory — in Phase 2, none were dropped. Every fact carries a per-fact source link, opened and confirmed during research in October 2026. Sources: the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR/CDC) ToxFAQs series, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), FDA final rules via the Federal Register, CDC NHANES biomonitoring documentation, peer-reviewed literature via NIH/PubMed, the EU (EUR-Lex regulations, European Commission scientific opinions), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), California legislative bill text and OEHHA Proposition 65 listings, the National Toxicology Program (NTP), IARC monographs, NIOSH, and the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR). Regulatory-status lines report only what Phase 1 and Phase 2 sources verified; “Not covered in Phase 1 sources” or “Not covered in Phase 2 sources” means the record was not checked against an opened primary source in that phase — it is not a claim that no regulation exists. This index carries no safety ratings by editorial rule: it states what each chemical is, where it is found, and what studies and regulators report. General information only — not medical advice. Last updated October 2026.