Ingredients to Avoid
at Home.

A common ingredient in glass cleaners and multi-surface sprays. Ammonia fumes irritate the respiratory tract, eyes, and skin — and when mixed with bleach (a common household accident), it creates toxic chloramine gas. Particularly dangerous for people with asthma or chronic respiratory conditions, and for children whose airways are more sensitive to chemical irritants.

While effective at disinfecting, chlorine bleach releases fumes that irritate the lungs, eyes, and skin on contact. It reacts with other common household chemicals to produce toxic gases — chlorine gas when mixed with acids like vinegar, and chloramine when mixed with ammonia. Residue left on surfaces can be absorbed through skin contact. Repeated inhalation exposure is linked to worsening asthma and chronic respiratory irritation.

Classified as a known human carcinogen by both the National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC Group 1). Formaldehyde off-gasses from certain cleaning and disinfecting products, as well as from building materials, pressed wood furniture, and fabric treatments. Chronic low-level exposure in the home is associated with increased cancer risk — particularly leukemia and nasopharyngeal cancer. It also causes contact dermatitis and respiratory irritation at concentrations commonly found in sealed indoor spaces.

Just as in personal care products, "fragrance" in home cleaners can legally contain hundreds of undisclosed chemicals — including phthalates, VOCs, and known allergens. Manufacturers are not required to disclose fragrance components. The "clean" smell of conventional products is often a synthetic chemical cocktail that enters your lungs with every spray and lingers in your indoor air. The International Fragrance Association has restricted or banned over 100 individual fragrance chemicals — none of which are identifiable to a consumer who sees only the word "fragrance" on a label.

Antimicrobial agents added to household cleaning and hygiene products. Linked to hormone disruption, antibiotic resistance, and aquatic environmental toxicity. The FDA banned both triclosan and triclocarban from over-the-counter hand soaps in 2016 after manufacturers failed to demonstrate they were safe and more effective than plain soap and water. Both remain permitted in other household product categories and are still found in some surface cleaners and dish soaps.

Fabric softeners work by coating fabric fibers with a thin layer of lubricating chemicals — primarily quaternary ammonium compounds (quats) — that remain on your clothing and bedding after washing. These deposited chemicals have been linked to skin irritation, contact dermatitis, and allergic reactions. Some quats are associated with asthma development with repeated inhalation exposure. They are also poorly biodegradable and persist in water systems. The softness they create comes from a chemical coating on your clothes — not from any benefit to the fabric itself.

Synthetic fluorescent chemicals added to laundry detergents to make whites appear brighter under UV light. They work not by removing stains, but by depositing on fabric and re-emitting UV light as visible blue-white light — creating an optical illusion of whiteness. They don't wash out. They accumulate on fabric with each wash cycle and remain in prolonged contact with your skin. Linked to skin irritation, contact dermatitis, and allergic reactions — and they are not biodegradable, accumulating in water systems and aquatic organisms.

A probable human carcinogen (EPA classification) that forms as a byproduct of the ethoxylation process used to make detergent ingredients milder. Because it is a manufacturing contaminant rather than an intentional ingredient, it does not appear on any product label — it is entirely invisible to consumers. Studies have found 1,4-dioxane in many mainstream laundry detergents, including some marketed as "gentle" or "natural." The only way to avoid it is to avoid the ethoxylated surfactants that produce it.

A family of over 15,000 synthetic chemicals engineered for their exceptional resistance to heat, water, grease, and stains — and for their virtually indestructible nature in both the environment and the human body. PFAS don't break down. They accumulate in body tissue over decades of repeated exposure, which is why they've earned the name "forever chemicals." They have been found in the blood of 97% of Americans tested. Linked to cancer (particularly kidney and testicular cancer), reproductive harm, immune system disruption, thyroid disease, and developmental toxicity in children. In the home, PFAS are found in stain-resistant fabric treatments and carpet sprays, floor sealers and waxes, some laundry detergent pods, stain removers, and grease-resistant paper products. They are identifiable on labels by ingredient names containing "fluoro" or "perfluoro." The EPA finalized the first-ever federal drinking water limits for six PFAS chemicals in 2024 — a significant regulatory acknowledgment of their documented health risk after decades of industry resistance.

Conventional air fresheners don't clean the air — they mask odors with synthetic chemicals. Many release VOCs including formaldehyde, benzene, and phthalates into your indoor air. Some contain nerve-deadening agents that reduce your ability to detect the odor rather than actually neutralizing it. The EPA has documented that many air freshener products react with ozone in indoor air to produce formaldehyde and other secondary pollutants — meaning the air freshener you're using to improve your home environment is actively producing carcinogens inside it.

Paraffin wax is a petroleum byproduct. When burned, paraffin candles release toxic combustion byproducts including benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, and acrolein — all known or probable human carcinogens — into your indoor air. The soot particles produced are fine enough to penetrate deep into lung tissue. Synthetic fragrance oils in conventional candles add a further layer of undisclosed chemical complexity to the smoke produced. The confined spaces where candles are typically burned — bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms — concentrate these pollutants rapidly.

Phthalates are used as fixatives in synthetic fragrances to extend how long scents last. In home fragrance products — candles, plug-ins, fabric sprays, and room diffusers — they are inhaled continuously, absorbed through skin contact with scented surfaces, and ingested through household dust that settles on food and hands. The CDC has detected phthalate metabolites in virtually all Americans tested. Linked to hormonal disruption, reproductive harm, and developmental issues in children — who spend more time on floors, closer to settled household dust, than adults.

Effective cleaning agents that cause significant environmental damage when they enter waterways. Phosphates trigger algae blooms (eutrophication) that deplete dissolved oxygen and suffocate aquatic ecosystems. Banned from laundry detergents in the U.S. since 1993 but still found in some automatic dishwasher detergents and commercial cleaners. When dishes washed with phosphate-containing detergents are not thoroughly rinsed, residue can remain on food contact surfaces.

A common solvent in glass and multi-surface cleaners that is readily absorbed through both the skin and by inhalation of its vapors. Its primary documented health risk is hemolytic toxicity — it damages red blood cells, causing anemia. It is also linked to liver and kidney damage with repeated exposure, and the EPA classifies it as a possible human carcinogen. Reproductive and developmental risks have been documented in animal studies, and the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants regulates it under the Clean Air Act. Cleaning your home in an unventilated room with products containing 2-butoxyethanol can expose you to air concentrations higher than established workplace safety limits — yet the law does not require it to be listed on consumer product labels.

Surfactants used in cleaning products that break down into nonylphenol — a persistent environmental pollutant that mimics estrogen and is highly toxic to aquatic life. Banned in cleaning products across the European Union and restricted in Canada, but still used in some U.S. household and industrial cleaners. The EU ban was implemented in 2005 after nonylphenol was found accumulating in fish tissue and disrupting the reproductive systems of aquatic organisms. Despite over two decades of evidence, no equivalent federal ban exists in the U.S.