Leaders in the cleaning-products industry claim that disclosing all the chemicals on labels would reveal trade secrets. Currently laws require only the citing of chemicals "known" to be dangerous. But society has been there before: It was the unknown dangers of chemicals in products that caused health and environmental threats and led to lawsuits. In addition, certain chemicals may only present threats to certain people, for example, those predisposed to asthma or infertility.
Now society is demanding the whole chemical story, reports Leslie Wayne in THE NEW YORK TIMES. Advocacy groups such as the Sierra Club and legislators such as California State Senator Joe Simitian are supporting this, The result could be mandatory disclosure of all ingredients. With that kind of information available, consumers could do their individual due diligence on the risk to them versus the benefits. It is this capability which is revolutionizing patient control over their treatment, including medication, options.
The problem for makers of brands such as Pine-Sol is that, in this era of the private label, competitors could take the brand formula and produce cheaper knock-offs. Price is trumping brand mystique.
Procter & Gamble is among the giants losing market share - and profits - to the private labels. This has become so serious that P&G has lowered prices and created a downscale version of premium-priced laundry cleaner Tide.
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