Reading the Label: Label Literacy

January 26, 2007 by Larry.

Are you label literate? Here is an easy way to find out. Put all the cleaning products that you use to clean your house in front of you and examine the labels. Now, take a few moments and read them carefully. If you are feeling a bit confused or you are seeing anything for the first time, you are not alone. In fact, if it is a product that you have used for years, you may never read the label.

In 1996, the EPA, was concerned enough about label literacy for consumer cleaning products that they formed a task force of government agencies and started a process known as the Consumer Labeling Initiative. After ten years, numerous studies, and 2 major reports, they the CLI has been the driving force behind efforts to simplify the language and standardize safety claims on cleaning product labels. In 2000 the CLI kicked off their “Read the Label First” program in an effort to get us, the consumer, to read the label on every cleaning product that we buy or use, before we buy or use it. However, despite their good efforts to simplify the label, consumer label literacy has not changed much so rather than learn the code, many avoid reading them entirely.

This is not to suggest that CLI was a failure, quite the opposite, it is much easier to read and understand the labels today because of the CLI. I suspect the difficulty that we have with these labels is that, like maps, trains schedules, or the instructions for your new cell phone, label literacy is a skill. And because labels are not compelling reading, containing “code” words and jargon, it is a skill that doesn’t come naturally to many consumers. When using products, or types of products, that we have been using for years, we tend to feel comfortable and studies by the EPA have found that we are much less likely to read the label. On the other hand, when considering new products, or a new product type, most consumers will make an effort to read the label but still find it a real challenge. Fortunately for you we live in an information age these challenges are easily overcome.

Label literacy an hour or less.

Here is a simple exercise that should take less than an hour and will make you a master of label literacy, clean up the clutter under your sink, and make your home safer and healthier for you and your family. First, there are many excellent resources on the web (Links). Start with the CLI, but also look through the industry trade organizations, and consumer advocacy groups have created excellent resources (Links provided). I would urge you to look through these and find those that work for you. Bookmark them or add them to your favorites. Take each of those cleaning products in front of you and read the label again, using the website(s) that you have chosen as a guide whenever you encounter code, jargon, or confusion. If you are still comfortable with it, keep it, if not, dispose of it according to the instructions on the label. When you are done, don’t be discouraged if you find that you are uncomfortable with many or most of the products that you have been using for years, there are better and safer alternatives and now that you have your masters in label literacy, you are ready to find them.

Upcoming Post: Cleaning Product Alphabet soup - EPA, FIFRA, TSCA

All cleaning products are required by one or more federal agencies to have a label that clearly identifies the product, the manufacturer, what it does, how to use it safely, and in plain language, any required safety warnings and a caution word. If the product is a disinfectant, sanitizer, or insecticide, or makes a public health or antimicrobial claims are regulated by the EPA and are required to list the “active” chemical ingredients by name. These are those long scary names you can’t possibly pronounce. All of this is on the label to help the consumer select and use the product safely, but the typical consumer finds most of it confusing.

Upcoming Post Topic: A Hunter-Gatherer in the Cleaner Aisle of the Supermarket

If you have a bit of time in the supermarket, stand in the aisle where cleaning products are sold and observe the other shoppers as they select products. Pay attention to what they do and notice how much (if any) time they spend reading the label. You will probably notice that there are just a few patterns of behavior that are repeated over and over, but most are very brief and the whole thing is over in just a few seconds. Before you jump to any conclusions, let’s consider what’s on the labels and why it is there. Then we can come back to the behavior patterns of shoppers.

Upcoming Post Topic: Do you really want 6-(hydroxymethyl)oxane-2,3,4,5-tetrol in your brain? (Absolutely!)

Every time you bring a cleaning product into your house, you bring in all of the chemicals in the product. Within seconds of spraying the product, trace amounts are in your circulation.

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