Methodology
Product and Ingredient Data Sources
Toxicity Datasets & Product Ratings
INFO / METHODOLOGY / Product and Ingredient Data Sources
Below we describe the information sources and the methodology we use to construct EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning’s linked datasets of ingredients, products, brands and companies.
The core of EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning is an interactive product database that contains ingredients in more than 2,000 products. EWG obtained detailed information on these products from manufacturers’ websites, online retailers and product packaging. Information was first amassed in the winter of 2011-2012 and is updated regularly. Visits to stores during the summer of 2012 provided additional information on the labels associated with some new product formulations now available to consumers. In most cases the information includes a brand name, product name, directions for use, warnings, ingredients and package/advertising text.
EWG staff carefully evaluated every product in EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning to identify the product type, its composition and use instructions (including precautions to protect skin and eyes) and product marketing claims.
EWG categorized each product into one or more of 70+ product categories (e.g., all-purpose cleaner, oxygen bleach, dish detergent). For ease of navigation, these product categories were organized into nine major groups.
EWG identified how each product is typically used. Many hazard recommendations associated with chemicals depend on a product’s use and/or composition. For instance, chemicals that are hazardous when inhaled are problematic in products that are sprayed. For each product, EWG recorded:
EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning currently features products sold under 197 brand names manufactured by dozens of companies, including brand and company relationships identified primarily through online research.
Because many consumers care about animal testing, EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning also provides the manufacturer’s position on animal testing as obtained from listings assembled by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ (PETA) and Leaping Bunny. We periodically update our database to reflect these organizations' most current listings.
EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning currently contains information on more than 1,000 ingredients used in cleaning products, culled from labels, manufacturer websites, worker safety documents and from the scientific and industry literature. We assigned a standardized name to each ingredient, often using the International Nomenclature for Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI) standard, with some exceptions where alternate names are more easily recognized by consumers or widely used by industry. Each ingredient name is associated with a unique ingredient identification number in the database.
EWG parsed (electronically separated) individual ingredients from the ingredient lists on company websites and on product labels where available. The parsing tools we designed do not yet take into account every variation in labeling and likely will never be able to account for the wide range of errors in spacing and delimiting on ingredient labels. Because of these factors, EWG staff members carefully reviewed parsed ingredient lists and manually corrected ingredients that were not accurately separated, routinely updating the parsing program to improve accuracy prior to a manual review.
Some company websites make freely available worker safety documents called Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) or Safety Data Sheets (SDSs). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires companies to provide these sheets to workers who may be exposed to hazardous chemicals on the job. SDSs may contain ingredient information not found elsewhere, including the Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) identification numbers for certain ingredients and a range of their relative percentages in products. When relevant, EWG manually extracted information on products and pH from SDSs. Product names on SDSs often do not correspond perfectly with the names on labels, requiring additional review to match each document with the correct product.
Each ingredient was assigned a unique name and identification number in the ingredient database in a multi-step process that involved resolving chemical synonyms and names that were misspelled or did not follow standard industry naming conventions:
EWG stored information where available on the function of each ingredient – for instance, whether it is used as a surfactant or a preservative. EWG also recorded information from labels about ingredients that a product does not contain.
Many manufacturers choose to describe the ingredients in their products only by their broad chemical class, such as “alcohol ethoxylate,” or by their functional class, such as “preservative,” rather than identifying specific chemical ingredients. EWG staff constructed “substance groups” that correspond to the major chemical or functional classes found in cleaning supplies. Individual ingredients were assigned to groups based on extensive review of government and industry documents.
Find personal care, cleaning, and food products on the EWG Healthy Living app.
DOWNLOAD THE APP