New York State requires disclosure of cleaning product ingredients

Cleaning product manufacturers will have to post online a list of the ingredients, by-products, and contaminants for products sold in New York, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation announced June 6. New York will be the first state to require such thorough disclosures for cleaning product components when the policy goes into effect July 1, 2019, the agency said in a statement. The program “will help the state better understand what chemical hazards the public is exposed to, especially from products made in countries with less protective environmental laws than the United States, and reduce exposure to chemicals of concern,” Basil Seggos, the department’s commissioner, said in the statement. The American Cleaning Institute, an industry trade group, said in a separate statement that the policy is unnecessary because cleaning product manufacturers that are members of the association already comply with a voluntary ingredient disclosure program. It also creates an unnecessary burden by requiring that these companies create new websites for their cleaning products. In March, California instituted similar disclosure requirements, which take effect in 2020.