• The magazine

    60 Millions de consommateurs

    looks at household products this Thursday.

  • If the National Institute of Consumption has already carried out surveys on these substances, the study takes into account three criteria to give an overall score: effectiveness, toxicity and substances produced in the air.

  • The magazine reveals good news: eco-labeled products are effective and the most carcinogenic substances are less present than two years ago.

Not easy to shop among the profusion of household products, especially when trying to follow the green priesthood ... The new issue of

60 Million consumers

, published this Thursday, helps those who want to clean without losing their lungs. to sort it out.

Especially with the Covid-19 epidemic and a tendency of French people to want to disinfect everything, the household market grew by 7.5% between 2019 and 2020. The recurring problem is that the information about these substances inhaled on a daily basis are incomprehensible and incomplete.

The magazine of the National Consumer Institute sifts 48 products.

And once is not custom, the study has some good news….

  • What to avoid ...

If this study is innovative, it is because it compiles three aspects at the same time: the effectiveness of the products, their toxicity (taking into account the way of use), but also the substances in the air which 'they generate. A little-known indoor pollution… and invisible on the label. The institute has selected twelve products from each of the four main families of cleaning products: multisurfaces, kitchens, bathrooms, toilets. He then performed laboratory tests to give them an overall score out of 20, taking these three factors into account.

And what we can remember is that you have to avoid the "two in one" - that is to say the disinfectant and the cleaner at the same time -, whatever the place to be cleaned. “We have more and more cleaning and disinfectant products available,” explains Emmanuel Chevalier, chemical engineer at the National Consumer Institute. But they are no more effective than a regular cleanser. In addition, they are bad for the planet and for your health. Extremely irritating, they stay on surfaces so you will be in contact with these substances. "

The magazine therefore advises to favor a good cleaning product, even in times of Covid-19.

The World Health Organization and the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) have reminded us: a simple soap is enough to protect your interior against the coronavirus.

So be careful with bleach, which is very allergenic, but also with very scented gels.

Many products that give off a lemon or orange scent indeed contain limonene, a skin irritant and allergenic molecule.

  • ... And what to focus on

The other lesson is that none of the products studied in the laboratory “are free from problematic emanations”.

Hence the basic advice: it is necessary to ventilate when cleaning, even in the toilets (especially as toilet gels which often have "deplorable" notes).

But above all, the investigation simplifies the task of maniacs.

"The good news is that in general, products that score well are labeled green," welcomes Sylvie Metzelard, editor-in-chief of 

60 Millions de consommateurs

.

It allows us to twist the necks of the prejudices according to which green products, less toxic, are also less effective than others.

"

  • A positive development

According to this survey, two years after a first study on the toxicity of household products, some manufacturers have measured the desire of consumers to clean responsibly. “In the four categories, there are effective products with a satisfactory impact on health and the planet,” explains Sylvie Metzelard. There is an evolution, even if there is still some way to go. We have the impression of rambling on a bit, but there are still effects… ”Thus, in 2019, around half of the products studied contained thiazolinones, which are very allergenic. Two years later, only 5 out of 48 have these molecules in their composition. Proof that it is possible to find alternatives.

The National Consumer Institute is also delighted with the announcement by Barbara Pompili, Minister of Ecological Transition, of the establishment of a “Toxi-Score” in 2022. Like the Nutri-Score ( which makes visible the nutritional value of a food product with letters between A and E and colors from green to red), this new logo could be based on the work of

60 Millions

 which, since 2019, offers a Ménag'Score .

"We hope that it will be affixed and imposed," resumes Sylvie Metzelard.

Without that, the consumer is lost.

“The fact remains that, as for the Nutri-Score, if it is not compulsory, some brands can still avoid transparency.

Health

“Toxi-score”: Towards a new logo to identify carcinogenic products in our daily life?

Society

Spring cleaning: Better to focus on "homemade" cleaning products, but with some precautions

  • 60 million consumers

  • Cleaning

  • Society

  • Health

  • Consumption