The Home Chemical Almanac · Chapter 11
The supporting cast
Correct as of November 2026.
If the label says "polymer", "thickener", "colour", "opacifier", "antifoam" or "stabiliser"
These are the ingredients that don't clean. They hold the dirt off your clothes, make the liquid thick and pearly, give it a colour, knock down foam, and keep the enzymes and bleach working in the bottle. Amounts are rarely published; one disinfectant in a Canadian government assessment held its blue dye at 0.005%.
Australian cleaning products don't have to list all their ingredients. Only a scheduled poison must be named on the label, with its strength, and a disinfectant must name its active ingredients. The safety data sheet is the best place to find the real name.
Sodium polyacrylate and the acrylic/maleic copolymer are in Chapter 3 (builders), propylene glycol in Chapter 9 (solvents), HEDP in Chapter 3, and the poloxamer antifoams will sit with the other non-ionic surfactants (Chapter 2).
Cheat sheet
| Chemical | Badges | Also on labels as | Worst fact | Take care if |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sodium carboxymethylcellulose | — | CMC, cellulose gum, E466 | 15 g a day in food made gut bacteria less diverse | — |
| Polyvinylpyrrolidone | 🛢 💧 | PVP, povidone, E1201 | Under 10% broke down in 42 days | — |
| Polyvinyl alcohol | 🛢 💧 | PVOH, PVA, pod film | 72,947 US pod exposures in 6 years, 91.7% under 6 | small children, dementia |
| Polyethylene glycol | 🛢 💧 | PEG, macrogol, E1521 | 37 reported cases of PEG allergy since 1977, some life-threatening | PEG allergy |
| Xanthan gum | — | E415 | 22 babies (21 premature) fed a xanthan thickener got NEC, 7 died (link not proven) | — |
| Guar gum | 💧 | E412 | Guar diet pills blocked 18 people's oesophagus | inhaling powder |
| Hydroxyethylcellulose | 🛢 | HEC | Made by reacting cellulose with ethylene oxide | — |
| Salt | — | sodium chloride | A thickening salt (magnesium sulfate, in a patent) can hold thickness roughly steady while the cleaner is diluted tenfold | — |
| Hydrogenated castor oil | — | castor wax, trihydroxystearin | From the castor bean, whose ricin is highly toxic | — |
| Brilliant Blue FCF | 💧 | CI 42090, FD&C Blue 1, E133 | Linked to 12 deaths in tube-fed patients (not proven) | very ill patients |
| Tartrazine | 💧 | CI 19140, FD&C Yellow 5, E102 | EU warning: "may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children" | aspirin sensitivity |
| Sunset Yellow FCF | 💧 | CI 15985, FD&C Yellow 6, E110 | Same EU warning label | — |
| Acid Green 25 | 🛢 💧 | CI 61570, D&C Green 5 | EU safety committee assessed it only as a hair dye, not as a colourant | — |
| Acid Red 33 | 🛢 💧 | CI 17200, D&C Red 33 | US allows 250 times more aniline than in Yellow 5 | — |
| Acid Blue 80 | — | CI 61585 | Persistent in water | — |
| Styrene/acrylates copolymer | 🛢 💧 | opacifier, latex | Starting chemical styrene is "probably carcinogenic" | — |
| Glycol stearate and distearate | — | EGDS, EGMS, pearliser | Mainly there for looks | — |
| Titanium dioxide | — | CI 77891, E171 | EU banned it from food in 2022 | inhaling powder |
| Dimethicone and silicone antifoam | 🛢 💧 | PDMS, silicone, polysiloxane | Its D4 impurity: "Suspected of damaging fertility" | — |
| Calcium chloride | — | E509 | Dry salt dissolves violently in water, with much heat | eyes |
| Sodium and calcium formate | — | formic acid salts | Calcium formate: "Causes serious eye damage" (company data) | eyes |
| Boric acid and borax | ☠ | sodium borate, sodium tetraborate | 11 babies fed formula made with boric acid: 5 died | pregnancy, children, slime |
| Sodium stannate | — | sodium tin oxide | Schedule 5 poison in any non-cosmetic product | eyes |
| PFAS ("forever chemicals") | 🛢 💧 | PTFE, fluoropolymer, "perfluoro-", "fluoro-" | WHO cancer agency rates PFOA "carcinogenic to humans" | pregnancy, living near PFAS sites, spraying protector indoors |
☠ Poison schedule (Australia) · ⚠ Officially classed skin allergen · 🛢 Made from a hazardous chemical · 💧 Contaminant risk
The chemicals
Part 1: Polymers
Polymers are long chains that do one job at tiny cost. In laundry they hold lifted dirt in the water so it doesn't settle back on clothes, stop loose dye moving from a red shirt to a white one, and form the dissolving film around a pod.
- Sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC)
- Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) 🛢 💧
- Polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) 🛢 💧
- Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 🛢 💧
Part 2: Thickeners
A thick liquid feels concentrated, pours slowly and clings to a toilet bowl. Thickness is cheap to add and tells you little about how much cleaner is in the bottle.
Part 3: Colours
Dye is there for you, not the dirt. Blue says fresh, green says natural, yellow says lemon. Several of these are also food colours, so they have more safety data than most cleaning ingredients.
Part 4: Opacifiers and pearlisers
A pearly or creamy look reads as rich and gentle. It's made with tiny particles or crystals that scatter light.
Part 5: Antifoams
Too much foam is a nuisance in a washing machine. A small amount of silicone knocks it down.
Part 6: Stabilisers
Enzymes and peroxide bleach slowly destroy themselves in the bottle. Stabilisers buy them shelf life.
Part 7: Stain and water repellents
These make fabric, furniture, cookware and some specialty cleaners resist stains, grease and water. They are made to last, which is the problem: they don't break down easily in the environment.
Safer alternatives
In 2022 the EU removed titanium dioxide from food, and in 2025 the US FDA announced a plan to phase six petroleum-based dyes, including Blue 1, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6, out of food. In 2012 the EU decided to restrict perborate bleach in household detergents (in force from June 2013) because "alternatives to perborates are available".
Look for these:
- No added colour and no pearliser: neither cleans anything
- Plant-, microbe- and cellulose-based thickeners: xanthan gum, guar gum and CMC
- Borate-free enzyme stabilisers: calcium chloride and sodium formate (US EPA Safer Choice green circles)
- Powder or liquid instead of pods if a child under 6, or someone with dementia, lives in the house
- Compare the dose, not the thickness, when choosing a dishwashing liquid
Sources
Regulators and official lists
- Australian Government. Poisons Standard October 2026 (SUSMP), F2026L01327: boric acid; sodium stannate; formic acid; Appendix B (dimeticone).
- Safe Work Australia. Hazardous Chemical Information System (HCIS): classifications for calcium chloride, boric acid, borax, and for N-vinylpyrrolidone, vinyl acetate, ethylene oxide, 1,4-dioxane, hydrazine, aniline, p-toluidine, styrene, chloromethane, carbon monoxide and octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4).
- NICNAS/AICIS. IMAP Tier II assessments: boric acid and borates; titanium dioxide (2016); octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4); decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5).
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Food Standards Code, Schedule 8 (2025); Food colours; Review of titanium dioxide as a food additive (updated 2025).
- ACCC Product Safety Australia. Laundry detergent capsules (2015).
- European Union. Regulation (EC) 1333/2008 Annex V; Regulation (EU) 231/2012 (food additive specifications); Regulation (EU) 2022/63 (E171); Regulation (EU) 1297/2014 (detergent capsules); Regulation (EC) 790/2009 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/849 (borates); Regulation (EU) 109/2012; Regulation (EU) 2023/2055 (microplastics); Regulation (EU) 2024/1328 (D4, D5, D6); Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 (cosmetics) Annexes III and IV.
- Court of Justice of the European Union. Joined Cases C-71/23 P and C-82/23 P, titanium dioxide (1 August 2025).
- EFSA. Re-evaluations of xanthan gum (E415, 2017, 2023), guar gum (E412, 2017), dimethyl polysiloxane (E900, 2020); titanium dioxide (E171, 2021).
- EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety. Opinion on Acid Green 25 (SCCS/1498/12).
- US FDA. Public health advisory on FD&C Blue No. 1 in enteral feedings (2003); SimplyThick consumer update (2012); 21 CFR 74.101, 74.705, 74.706, 74.1205, 74.1333, 74.2333, 201.20; phase-out of petroleum-based food dyes (22 April 2025); Color additives Q&A; 1,4-dioxane in cosmetics.
- US EPA. Denial of TSCA petition on polyvinyl alcohol, 88 FR (21 April 2023); Safer Choice Ingredient List.
- Environment Canada / Health Canada. Screening assessment: Acid Blue 80 (2008).
- JECFA (FAO/WHO). Specifications and evaluations: titanium dioxide (2023), sodium carboxymethylcellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, Brilliant Blue FCF, tartrazine, Sunset Yellow FCF, D&C Red 33.
- IARC. Monographs: styrene (vol. 121), titanium dioxide (vol. 93), amorphous and crystalline silica (vol. 68), ethylene oxide, Brilliant Blue FCF.
- ATSDR. Toxicological profile for tin (2005).
- HSDB (US National Library of Medicine), via PubChem: manufacturing, use and impurity data.
- ECHA C&L Inventory (aggregated company notifications, via PubChem).
- ILO-WHO International Chemical Safety Card 1184: calcium chloride (anhydrous).
- EU General Court, Joined Cases T-279/20, T-288/20 and T-283/20 (23 November 2022); Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/217.
- Australian Government Department of Health. Boric acid in consumer products (NDPSC risk assessment, 2008), as reported by NICNAS.
- Product safety data sheets and labels: Searles Borax SDS (2022) and 500 g label; Pascoe's Glitz Green Borax SDS (2023).
Industry and other assessments
- Danish EPA. Substances in household detergents (2019).
- Cosmetic Ingredient Review: castor oil and hydrogenated castor oil (2007); styrene/acrylates copolymers (2014); glycol stearate (2023); microbial gums; galactomannans; PEGs (2005).
- HERA. Protease (subtilisin) (2007).
- GreenScreen assessment: hydrogenated castor oil.
- Patents: US6790818B2 (Procter & Gamble); US8895492B2 (Colgate-Palmolive); US4362706 and US4291009 (stannates).
Studies
- Chassaing B et al. Randomized controlled-feeding study of dietary emulsifier carboxymethylcellulose. Gastroenterology 2022.
- Chassaing B et al. Dietary emulsifiers impact the mouse gut microbiota. Nature 2015;519:92-96.
- Gaw CE et al. Pediatric exposures to laundry and dishwasher detergent packets, 2012–2017. Pediatrics 2019.
- Rolsky C, Kelkar V. Degradation of polyvinyl alcohol in US wastewater treatment plants. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021.
- Wenande E, Garvey LH. Immediate-type hypersensitivity to polyethylene glycols: a review. Clin Exp Allergy 2016.
- Woods CW et al. Necrotizing enterocolitis and xanthan gum thickener. J Pediatr 2012.
- Lewis JH. Esophageal and small bowel obstruction from guar gum-containing diet pills. Am J Gastroenterol 1992.
- Malo JL et al. Occupational asthma caused by guar gum. J Allergy Clin Immunol 1990.
- Worbs S et al. Ricinus communis intoxications in human and veterinary medicine. Toxins 2011.
- McCann D et al. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children. Lancet 2007;370:1560-1567.
- Ardern KD, Ram FSF. Tartrazine exclusion for allergic asthma. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2001.
- Wong LC et al. Boric acid poisoning: report of 11 cases. CMAJ 1964;90:1018-1023.
- Slime-related hand dermatitis in children. CMAJ 2019.