How to Find an Eco

Oct 30, 2023

Consumer Reports tested five products and found two that stood out. Plus, other tips on what to look for in a detergent that's safe for you and the environment.

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You want a laundry detergent that gets your clothes clean, of course. But you probably also want one that doesn't expose you or your family, or the environment, to potentially harmful chemicals.

To help you in that effort, Consumer Reports recently looked for potentially dangerous chemicals in five laundry detergents representing a cross-section of the marketplace. They included three detergents that make label claims related to safety or gentleness: All Stainlifters Free & Clear, Dreft Stage 1: Newborn, and Seventh Generation Free & Clear. We also tested two conventional detergents: Tide Original and Gain Original With Aroma Boost.

The good news: None of the five products we tested had concerning levels of any of the chemicals we looked for. Those included 1,4-dioxane, a suspected carcinogen; the heavy metals arsenic, cadmium, and lead; phthalates, which are chemicals that have been linked to a host of health problems; and phosphorus, an environmental pollutant that can promote the growth of toxic algae in waterways.

The even better news: Two of the detergents—All Stainlifters Free & Clear and Seventh Generation Free & Clear Liquid Sensitive Skin—stood out, with none of those chemicals detected in our tests. In addition, the labels for both clearly list all of their ingredients, with none hiding behind vague or catch-all phrases such as "fragrances." That can be especially important to people with allergies, who may need to take special precautions to avoid specific substances.

Between those two products, the All product costs less, but the Seventh Generation one performs slightly better in our cleaning tests.

While our tests were reassuring, what about other detergents on the market? Making sense of the polysyllabic tongue-twister ingredients on the labels—sodium laureth sulfate, MEA alkylbenzene sulfonate, and benzisothiazolinone, to name a few—can indeed be daunting, even for chemists.

Here's what you should look for on product labels to make sure you get the safest, most effective choice for your family and the planet.

The All and Seventh Generation detergents we tested had the "Safer Choice" seal on their label. That means they meet criteria set by the Environmental Protection Agency designed to protect human health and the environment.

Currently, 210 detergents carry the Safer Choice label, says Erica Harriman, manager of the EPA Safer Choice program for ToxServices, an independent consulting firm that helps the EPA determine which products get the seal. "All of these products have had to pass performance testing," she says, and must meet the agency's strict criteria for health and environmental safety.

Cheri Peele, senior project manager at Toxic-Free Future, a nonprofit that aims to reduce the use of potentially dangerous ingredients, urges consumers to "choose detergents with the U.S. EPA Safer Choice label."

Products CR has tested for cleaning that are listed in the EPA's Safer Choice database include:• All Free Clear Stainlifters Odor Relief• All Oxi Stainlifter• All Stainlifters Free & Clear• Seventh Generation Free & Clear Liquid Sensitive Skin• Seventh Generation Free & Clear Packs Sensitive Skin• Tide Free & Gentle

There are several other places you can look for information.

Green-cleaner guides offered by the Environmental Working Group: That nonprofit group's label decoder explains potentially confusing terms like surfactant, enzymes, non-toxic, organic, fragrance, scent, and free/clear. And its Guide to Healthy Cleaning highlights ingredients of concern in detergents and other products and scores them for safety.

SmartLabel: Created by the 75-member Consumer Brands Association, which represents about 2,000 brands, the SmartLabel digital app offers more ingredient and product information than you’ll see on your laundry detergent label, including potential allergens. Consumers can scan product barcodes with their smartphones to get information, including ingredient lists, third-party certifications, and directions for proper use, and safety data sheets, features and benefits, and recycling information. While some consumers complain the app is glitchy, it's more convenient than searching individual websites, says Eric Boring, PhD, a CR chemist who led our recent tests of laundry detergents.

SmartLabel information comes directly from manufacturers, including Procter & Gamble, makers of Tide, Gain, Dreft, Era, Downy, and Bounce.

"In North America, we list the ingredients for our formulated products in SmartLabel, including sharing the ingredients in our fragrances down to 0.01 percent, further helping consumers with sensitivities and diagnosed allergies to make a well-informed decision," says Jennifer Ahoni, P&G's director of Scientific Communications.

Manufacturers’ websites. You can also mine company websites for more detailed information about the ingredients in a company's products. Seventh Generation, for example, provides detailed product safety sheets (PDF) listing potential allergens and other chemicals.

The American Cleaning Institute's glossary of cleaning product terms. This organization, which represents cleaning product manufacturers, offers an online resource that explains how some detergent ingredients work.

Of course, you can also review product labels themselves to check for ingredients of concern, though making sense of the dizzying array of surfactants, solvents, preservatives, disinfectants, and other chemicals they contain can be daunting. To simplify that process, here is a cheat sheet of what to watch out for and why.

Be wary of "fragrances." While manufacturers are required by the federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act to reveal certain information about their products, they can still keep some ingredients hidden, including thousands of chemicals used for fragrances, as proprietary trade secrets.

That's concerning because chemicals used to create fragrances are often behind the allergic reactions some people have, says Brandi Thomas, public relations director for Seventh Generation. And Boring, at CR, says that fragrances can also include phthalates, chemicals that can disrupt the body's endocrine system and have been linked to a range of reproductive and developmental health problems. "Consumers should be wary if ‘fragrance’ is listed without specifying the many chemicals that can be included in the fragrance formulation," he says.

CR did not detect phthalates in the five detergents we tested. But two products, Gain and Tide Original, did list "fragrance" as an ingredient.

Check for possible allergens and potentially risky chemicals. Certain ingredients are more likely than others to cause skin irritation and allergic reactions. Boring says these include: sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), ethyl linalool, sodium and MEA alkylbenzene sulfonate, sodium borate (tetraborate), and benzisothiazolinone. CR reviewed the ingredient lists of the five products we tested for those potential allergens and found at least one of the ingredients in all of the products.

New York state has established limits for 1,4-dioxane in detergents and some other products. None of the products we tested included significant levels of that possible carcinogen. Checking for 1,4-dioxane in other products is difficult, as it will not be listed as an ingredient. Instead, Boring recommends checking product labels for ingredients that could create 1,4-dioxane as a byproduct. Those include sodium laureth sulfate, (SLES), laureth-6, laureth-7, C12-16 pareth, and polyethylene glycol (PEG).

Our tests did not find worrisome levels of any of those dangerous heavy metals in the five products we tested. In fact, the only one that we found even trace amounts of was arsenic, in three products: Tide Original, Gain Original with Fragrance Boost, and Dreft Stage 1: Newborn, all made by Procter & Gamble.

Because arsenic, like other heavy metals, poses particular risks to babies, this finding may set off alarm bells among some parents. However, the amounts we found were extremely low, Boring says. Plus, he notes, arsenic on clothing poses less risk than, say, in apple juice or baby food, which are ingested.

Margaret H. Whittaker, PhD, chief toxicologist at ToxServices, notes that "Extremely low levels of arsenic present as a detergent residue on baby clothes is unlikely to pose a health risk even to a baby who chews on their clothes."

P&G's Ahoni, says that substances like arsenic "can be found in tiny, trace amounts due to their natural, or background, presence in water, the environment" and that the company has "strict product safety limits in place when any of these materials could be found in trace amounts, ensuring that they are safe for intended use."

Still, the fact that arsenic was not detected at all in two of the products we tested shows that it is possible to make products without it, Boring says. And, he notes, since the risk of exposure to arsenic is cumulative, it's important to limit your exposure as much as possible, from all sources.

Keith Flamer

Keith Flamer has been a multimedia content creator at Consumer Reports since 2021, covering laundry, cleaning, small appliances, and home trends. Fascinated by interior design, architecture, technology, and all things mechanical, he translates CR's testing engineers’ work into content that helps readers live better, smarter lives. Prior to CR, Keith covered luxury accessories and real estate, most recently at Forbes, with a focus on residential homes, interior design, home security, and pop culture trends.