In homes across Minnesota, entire families are pitching in on household cleaning chores. Every day, they’re doing laundry, washing floors, and cleaning windows together. It’s an effort intended to keep everyone healthy by cutting down on germs, bacteria, and mold. But unfortunately, many of the ingredients in commonly used cleaning products may be dangerous themselves. Right now, the law requires that product labels list immediately hazardous ingredients. But incredibly, our soaps and detergents and furniture polishes don’t have to disclose all their ingredients – even ingredients known to cause harm over time.
Moms and dads have a right to know whether harmful chemicals are present in their kitchen cupboards. When my wife Franni and I were raising our own kids, we were constantly concerned with what we used to wash their cribs, their pacifiers, the floors, and surfaces they played on.
So last week, I introduced my second piece of legislation since taking office last July. It’s called the Household Product
Labeling Act
and it will enable consumers to determine whether potentially harmful chemicals are present in the household cleaning products they use every day. This is just a common-sense measure to help parents keep their kids safe and healthy.
How many times have you heard on the news or read in the paper about a new drug or chemical that has been recently linked to health or environmental hazards? It happens all the time. An ingredient that a company claims is “perfectly safe” today could be reclassified as “dangerous” tomorrow. And an ingredient that is safe for most people could be a major irritant for a child with asthma. Eventually, I hope that manufacturers will take pre-emptive action and eliminate potentially harmful chemicals from their products. In the meantime, this legislation is a common sense step in the right direction.
Senator Al Franken
Washington D.C.
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