Following up on the carcinogenic-cleaners kerfuffle

It's been more than two weeks since the California Attorney General's Office filed suit against four manufacturers of green-branded products for not warning consumers that they contain a toxic chemical [link], and I'd like to share with you the responses I got from the companies.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that I contacted all four companies the same day I broke the story, two of them—Avalon and Whole Foods—have not responded to me. I am distinctly unimpressed.

I did speak to both Beaumont and NutriBiotic, however.

Beaumont, which makes Citrus Magic 100% Natural Dish Liquid, deserves a pat on the back. It forwarded me a statement from marketing VP Bill Stone saying that in March, after finding out about the Organic Consumers Association study that blew the lid off the 1,4-dioxane affair, Beaumont sent samples of the dish liquid to an independent laboratory, which verified the OCA's results. Further tests revealed that eliminating a surfactant called Sulfochem ES-60 would eliminate the problem, so the company immediately reformulated Citrus Magic sans the offending ingredient.

"In summary," the statement says, "upon being notified that there was a problem with our product, we verified that the problem existed, then took immediate action. We reformulated the product and are currently producing and marketing the product, Citrus Magic® 100% Natural Dish Liquid, having eliminated the problem in the new formula. There are no ethoxylated ingredients in the new reformulated product."

NutriBiotic, whose Super Shower Gel Shampoo with GSE was found to contain 32.2ppm of 1,4-dioxane, appears to be headed down the path of doing the right thing. I spoke with Pam Lausten, part of the company's marketing team. After repeatedly telling me that "we wouldn't knowingly put [1,4-dioxane] in there," she said that NutriBiotic had commissioned its own study, "and obviously, if the ingredients are in there, we intend to eliminate them."

Which means that for the time being, Super Shower Gel Shampoo with GSE presumably still contains 1,4-dioxane (assuming the OCA study's results are valid).

And, of course, so do Whole Foods' 365 Everyday Value Dish Liquid (1.6ppm) and Shower Gel (20.1ppm), and Avalon's Alba brand Passion Fruit Body Wash (18.2ppm) and Replenishing Shampoo (.7ppm). Your guess is as good as mine as to whether those companies will reformulate.

Comments

[Bronwyn]

Just got a response from Whole Foods today:

"We hope to wrap things up with the California AG’s office in a bit, but until all that is settled, I can only offer you a prepared statement about the lawsuit. Here it is:

Whole Foods Market is cooperating with the California Attorney General’s office to resolve these claims as quickly as possible. We have conducted our own investigation into the allegations that some of our products contain 1,4-dioxane and do not believe that these products represent a health risk or are in excess of California’s Proposition 65 Safe Harbor level for 1,4-dioxane.

For shoppers who are looking for alternatives to the products named by the OCA, we carry numerous USDA organically certified personal care products in addition to other products that meet our own Premium Body Care standards. Our standards have been designed utilizing the most current research and resources to evaluate products in key areas of safety, naturalness, efficacy, environmental impact and labeling."