March 21st 2008
Shaklee products - an earth friendly cleaner investigated.
I have recently purchased many products from a company called Shaklee. Their website is as follows: http://www.shaklee.com/index.shtml
I purchased the Get Clean starter kit. I have been using it for about a month now, maybe more. My first consensus is that their products are wonderful and work very well. While I am pleased with that, I was uncertain as to whether their products were as clean as they promised. None of the items came with a list of ingredients. When I questioned Shaklee, this was their response:
Thanks for your inquiry regarding ingredients in Get Clean products.
While the ingredient base for most of the Get Clean products are from sustainable sources such as corn and coconut, our company policy over the years has been to not list the specific ingredients of some of the products as they are proprietary. Indeed, the ingredient information we have provided actually exceeded the legal requirements for manufacturers of household cleaners - who are required to list ingredients on labels only if they are hazardous, have legal limits, or are required by the EPA. Indeed, if you peruse the labels of many competitor products who claim they do list ingredients, you will note that they often list anionic surfactant, non-ionic surfactant, stabilizer, etc., which is simply a detergent builder list and not the actual ingredients in the product.
However, in response to many requests for ingredient information we have received since the launch of the Get Clean line, we have prepared a Get Clean Ingredient Glossary which will provide more specific details about ingredients in the products. We expect this material to be available very shortly. In the meantime, we hope the attached Get Clean Ingredients and Product Profiles documents are helpful to you in responding to ingredient inquiries.
Your Friends at Shaklee
As you can see, it is not required that they list any non-harmful ingredients according to the EPA. While I do not trust the EPA to determine what is or is not harmful, Shaklee’s response thankfully did not stop there. They included two attachments, one Product Profile and the other a Get Clean ingredient list. I currently can’t figure out how to get both adobe attachments posted here, but I will include some ingredients:
-”The ingredient base for most of the Get Clean products are from sustainable sources such as corn and coconut, and a mix of natural enzymes, as well as mineral-dervied compounds, such as sodium carbonate.” (Shaklee Corp.)
-”Basic H2tm Organic Super Concentrate Cleaner - the active ingredients in this product are derived from corn and coconut. Fragrance-free and color-free.” (Shaklee Corp.) — As you can see, they aren’t specific ingredients. When I looked at the Product Profile in Adobe, it says the following: “Concentrated Formula: Naturally-derived cleaning agents (corn and coconut-based surfactant), natural thickener, biodegradable earth-friendly preservative, and water.” (Shaklee Corp.)
I hope to soon see the specific ingredients that the response message I got says will become available.
Another item that had more specific details (and one I use often) was the Fresh Laundry Concentrate Liquid HE. The following was on the Product Profile: “Concentrated Formula: A low-foaming blend of naturally-derived cleaning agents (corn and coconut-derived surfactants), vegetable glycerin, mineral salts, anti-redeposition agents, vegetable enzymes to remove protein and starch stains and protect fabrics, anti-foaming agents, natural enzymes, optical brighteners, and water. Preservative free, bleach free.” (Shaklee Corp.)
It all sounds good, but I have to remain inconclusive until I see more specific ingredients.
Even if the ingredients were completely earth friendly, I still have reservations about using any products that are fractioned and manufactured in any way. I do recognize, however, that most people don’t live in a way that allows them to not use such products. In such instances, I would recommend products like Shaklee to help keep your home clean. I may retract this after I review the specific ingredients, but so far so good.
Lia Cross
