I am very annoyed. Yet again I looked at the back of a product (in this case for cleaning the shower) and there were no ingredients listed.

In this day and age, you’d think that the government would mandate that all products must have their ingredients listed! We’re just hearing that Canada is going to ban the use of Bisphenol A in all plastic bottles; why aren’t plastic bottles required to list the chemical “plasticizers” that are used in their creation? We know that some pesticides are outlawed in North America (like DDT), so why isn’t conventionally grown produce required to list the chemicals used in the growth of that food?

The first time I saw a list of the chemicals used in the growth of food, it was on a case of clementines that had been grown in Spain. It was such a shock that I couldn’t buy them! While we all know intellectually that chemicals are used to grow our food, it’s another thing when you see them listed on the label for your fruit. I suspect that would happen for many people – and it could push more widespread organic farming and better quality produce for all of us.

And for heaven’s sake, why aren’t all personal care companies listing everything that goes into your shampoo or conditioner? We should know what’s in there!

I’m the mother of 2 kids who have suffered with allergies. I also have them myself. I’ve reacted to a new personal care product. It’s unpleasant, but fortunately not life threatening. I know that contact with minute amounts of an allergen can be deadly with a severely allergic child. Many personal care and cleaning products contain potentially allergenic components, like soy, wheat, fruit, herb or milk components. So, it’s possible that you could be irritating your allergies with the products you use to keep your hair clean and shiny!

And yet, we still don’t have labeling requirements for all products.

All I can say is: I didn’t buy the cleaning product that didn’t have its ingredients declared. I won’t buy any product that won’t tell me what’s in it.