Don’t take our word for it. Here’s every fact on this site, with its evidence grade, its caveats, and a link to the source, so you can check us.
We start you on the strong ones: findings that have been replicated or come from one large, well-controlled study. Moderate and weak facts are here too, labeled for what they are. Use “Link to this fact” to share a single card.
The industry / Other evidence
EWG Verified is a licensing program in which EWG writes the criteria, scores the products, pre-approves the mark's use in marketing, and can bar claims that 'would harm or discredit EWG'.
Strong evidence: EWG is an advocacy nonprofit, not an industry body, but it is an interested party acting as standard-setter, certifier and publisher.
Source: EWG Verified criteria for cleaning products (10.24), Environmental Working Group, 2024 Link to this fact
The industry / Industry source
Even after this 2017 update, the fragrance industry's own aggregate exposure model still explicitly excluded household cleaning and laundry products — the product category the industry's own 2003 safety-process paper says accounts for about 60% of fragrance volume — and named their inclusion as future work.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Single industry methods paper describing its own model's scope; the gap was closed industry-wide only in a later 2024 paper (Lee et al.), which this claim's caveat should be read alongside.
Source: Comiskey 2017 (RIFM/Creme Global), Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology Industry-funded Link to this fact
The industry / Measured in people or real products
Tumble dryer manufacturers give directly conflicting instructions on cleaning the lint filter: some tell consumers to rinse it under water, others recommend a dishwasher, others dry methods only, and one (John Lewis) explicitly says never use water, for environmental reasons.
Moderate evidence: One UK market snapshot (24 brands, January 2023), not checked against other countries or against what consumers actually do.
Source: Cummins 2023, PLOS ONE Industry-funded Link to this fact
The industry / Government agency
Benzophenone is widely used as a UV-curing photoinitiator for inks and varnishes, a fragrance fixative/enhancer and flavoring agent, a UV blocker in plastic packaging, and an additive in coatings, adhesives, laundry and household cleaning products; the US EPA classified it a high-production-volume chemical in 2003, with US annual production exceeding 1 million pounds (453,000 kg).
Moderate evidence: Production/use figures are the Working Group's synthesis of industry and HSDB/NTP secondary sources, not independently verified primary measurement.
Source: IARC 2013 Link to this fact
The industry / Measured in people or real products
All cleaning products tested in this study (laundry detergent, fabric softener, dust/floor/glass cleaners, and a smoke remover) contained detectable VOCs; alkanes (mainly n-tetradecane, 87 µg/mL in the laundry detergent) and terpenes (mainly limonene, up to 64 µg/mL in the smoke-remover spray) were the dominant classes, while chlorine bleach (not itself tested for VOCs but used liberally) was linked to the chloroform and carbon tetrachloride found in laundry-room air.
Moderate evidence: Only 7 products from one hotel were tested; formulations vary by brand and hotel.
The industry / Review of other studies
The 2016 review of clothing-cleaning methods was funded by Australian Wool Innovation, the wool industry's research body, and a coauthor works there; wool is the fiber it says needs more research on wet cleaning.
Moderate evidence.
Caveats
Funding by a fiber-growers body, not a solvent maker; no competing-interest statement beyond the funding line. This is a disclosure of potential interest, not evidence of bias in any specific finding.
Source: Troynikov 2016, Journal of Environmental Management Industry-funded Link to this fact
The industry / Other evidence
EWG linked companies' ingredient disclosure to 'pressure from customers and the threat of federal regulation', saying that is why most cleaning makers list at least some ingredients.
Weak evidence: EWG's explanation of company motives, not tested; no regulatory history is given.
Source: EWG press release, Sept. 10, 2012, EWG press release (web page) Link to this fact
The industry / Other evidence
EWG states it accepts no programmatic funding from food, household-cleaning, or personal-care companies, no funding for corporate-sponsored research, and no payment of any kind for inclusion or scoring in Skin Deep, Guide to Healthy Cleaning, or Food Scores.
Weak evidence: This is a policy statement by EWG itself; 'programmatic funding' is not defined and no audit of compliance is on the page.
Source: EWG Funding & Reports page, 2026, EWG website (web page) Link to this fact
Information, not medical advice. See also: myths we won’t tell you.