Most people think the soap they clean their dishes with is harmless, when in fact they are filled with toxic chemicals that are harmful to your health and the environment. Most conventional dish soap brands contain cancer-causing chemicals like formaldehyde, sulphuric acid, fragrances, and more.
A quick search on the Environmental Working Group (EWG) website will tell you whether your dish soap is safe or toxic. Even products labelled as “natural” or “green” contain ingredients that are harmful to the body. Now most people wonder – “why dish soap? We don’t consume it!” – well, in fact, you wash your dishes with it, which when absorbed through the skin, bypass your liver and enter the bloodstream and tissues directly (without filtering). Dish soap residues also stick to your dishes and cutlery, even after rinsing, which are then later consumed when you eat with them.
The most commonly found chemicals in liquid dish soap include preservatives, fragrance, colour, and surfactants. All of which are harmful to the body (and environment). This is by no means a complete list of chemicals found in dish soaps. However, it does highlight some of the worst offenders.
12 Dish Soap Brands That Contain Cancer-Causing Chemicals
1. Formaldehyde
We all know what formaldehyde does. It preserves bodies and other body flesh that would otherwise go bad. It is also present in disinfectant products like dish soaps. Formaldehyde can cause a burning sensation in the eyes, nose and throat, and can trigger coughing, wheezing, nausea, and skin irritation. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies it as a known human carcinogen. Many dish soap brands contain a small amount of formaldehyde – so it is best to avoid them all. Palmolive promises to remove it from their products by the end of 2017.
2. Sulphuric Acid
This chemical is carcinogenic and can cause burns upon contact with the skin or sensitive nasal passages when exposed in large amounts. It is used in dishwashing gel, dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent. It is mainly known to cause laryngeal cancer, nasal sinus cancer, and pneumonitis.
3. Fragrances
Although you may like your apple-scented dish soap, those fragrances are simply composed of a cocktail of chemicals. Fragrances can be made up of a combination of 3,000 different chemicals, most of which are never disclosed to the customer. Instead, fragrance is simply listed as “fragrance”, when in reality, it should be comprised of a long list of tongue-twisting chemical names. Fragrance is known to cause allergies, dermatitis, respiratory distress and can cause distress in the reproductive system.
4. Triclosan
This chemical was originally developed and registered as a pesticide in 1969. It is found in soaps, toothpastes, cosmetic, deodorants, first aid products, clothing, kitchen ware, and many more products. The active ingredient continues to work for as long as 12 hours after use, and can alter hormone regulation. It has been found to decrease circulating concentrations of the thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4) in rats.
5. Sodium Laurel Sulphate (SLS)
This ingredient is a surfactant used to break down surface tension, allowing the soap to be a more effective cleanser. Unfortunately, this ingredient is also linked to nitrosamines, a potent carcinogen that causes your body to absorb nitrates, which are known carcinogens. This absorption occurs when SLS is contaminated with NDELA (N-nitrosodiethanolamine) during processing (such as TEA (triethanolamine), a commonly used ingredient in dish soaps and shampoos). Over 40,000 studies in PubMed science library include information on the toxicity of SLS.
6. Ammonium Sulfate
Used as a cleaning and foaming agent, ammonium sulfate is far from safe. It is known to cause gastrointestinal pain if ingested, and may damage the skin and eyes if contact occurs. Inhaling the substance can also cause respiratory irritation, and even respiratory failure.
Conventional Dish Soaps To Avoid
If you want to avoid the above ingredients and reduce your risk of cancer, consider dropping these brands:
– Cascade
– Legacy of Clean
– Finish
– Sunlight
– Palmolive
– Dawn
“Natural” Dish Soaps To Avoid
The following “natural” dish soaps aren’t all that good for you either. They have all received very low scores for both personal and environmental safety (according to EWG):
– Simple Green Naturals
– Mrs. Meyers
– Seventh Generation
– Method
– Green Works
– Bon Ami Dish Soap
Best Dish Soaps
While the above dish soaps aren’t the best, there are still some great dish soaps out there that contain zero harmful ingredients. These include:
– Yaya Maria’s: Yaya Maria’s is an all-natural dishsoap that contains only coconut oil, water, vegetable glycerin, lavender essential oil, potash and castor oil. To receive a 10% discount on their product, use the code “livelovefruit” at checkout!
– Dr. Bronner’s: While Dr. Bronner’s contains a little more ingredients than Yaya Maria’s, it is still a good alternative to conventional dish soaps.
Making homemade dish soap is also really easy, too. Peek the recipe below on how to make your own!
DIY Homemade Dish Soap Recipe:
– 1 cup Dr. Bronner’s Organic Pure Castile Liquid Soap
– 1/4 cup soap flakes or grated Castile soap
– 4 tbsp. super washing soda
– 1/2 cup distilled water
– 20 drops essential oil of your preference (lavender is very nice!)
In a medium sized bowl, place the soap flakes and washing soda into a bowl and blend with a whisk. Bring the water to a boil, and pour on top of the whisked ingredients. Stir, and then add the remaining ingredients. Blend all of the ingredients very well, allow to cool, and then place in a glass bottle with a pump or BPA-free squirt bottle.
Thanks for pointing out the dangers hiding in dish soaps. The toxic ingredients found in conventional dish soap should make everyone feel concerned about their health and the health of their children and seek truly natural alternatives with safe ingredients or make their own dish soap with nontoxic ingredients.
Dr. Brooner's Sal Suds says it has SLS… why is this? Isn' t bad for you?
I am not sure why I didn't catch that – I switched it to Dr. Bronner's other brand of castile soap that has no SLS. Thanks for noticing (I don't know what I was thinking!)
Here is the information directly from Bronners website regarding mixing castile soap & vinegar http://www.lisabronner.com/a-word-of-caution-about-vinegar-and-castile-soap/
Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap and vinegar can clean an entire house. They are effective, versatile, biodegradable, and non-toxic. But the sole point of this post is to emphasize that these two should not be mixed directly. This is true for the castile soap and any acid – any vinegar or lemon juice.
Since there have been several recommendations in online recipes and on TV to mix these two together, I want to address this topic. It’s not a dangerous combination, but it’s definitely moving in the wrong direction as far as getting things clean.
Here’s why.
In great part it’s due to the fact that vinegar is an acid and the castile soap is a base. They will directly react with each other and cancel each other out.
Thanks Jackie!
Hi, I see no references here, so wondering which of the 12 soaps have which of the 6 listed hazardous ingredients, and in what amounts? I'm looking to replace existing palmolive with 7th generation in a large office area, but it's hard to make an informed decision based on a simple bulleted list.
I've referenced EWG – check their website to look up whatever dish soap you want to use. https://www.ewg.org/guides/categories/5-Dishwashing#.WudkotOUvLY
Thanks, appreciate the link. I don't know how EWG scores ingredients and whether the concentrations matter, and how much. Need MSDS level detail, not just the grade school grading system to make an informed decision. Items they grade an "F" for surfactants, for example, are not detailed enough so I know which surfactants and quantity of each. I'm sure there is some science behind the ratings but it is not front and center on the site.
If you click on the ingredient in the left hand side, when you go to a product, then you will see where and how they get their rating (each ingredient has a long reference list when you click on them).
Hi Carly, that is excellent info and I have examined this. The confusing part to me is that some individual "C"-rated ingredients seem to be more adverse than others, in that they pull down the overall product rating to B whereas others do not. There are weights assigned (per their methodology section) that are a bit obtuse, based on concentrations and disclosure. In the end, I've settled on Ecover Zero, of the 32 items rated "A" by EWG. It was the only product that had a single "C" rated ingredient, and costs under $0.20 per ounce. (Attitude Fragrance Free has none, but is triple the cost.) Thanks for the discussion.
Ahh yeah, that might make things a little confusing. I suggest reaching out to the team over at EWG to see if they can help you further. Unless, if you've found a decent company. I use Yaya Maria's, as their ingredients are super clean, and the soap is scented with lavender essential oil. $0.28 per ounce!
Great post! I just had one question. Can you use the dish soap recipe in the dishwasher? I've been trying to find one and am having a hard time. But this one looks good, so if I can use this with my dishwasher too that would make me very happy:)
Hey Alex, yes you can definitely use this in the dishwasher – just make sure you use larger-grain kosher salt, as fine salt may damage the dishwasher (alternatively, you can leave out the salt altogether).
I may have missed something, but I don’t see salt on the recipe for this fish soap. I’m interested to make this for the dishwasher as well!
Oops! I meant dish* soap 😛
Hey Becca! Sorry, but I am not sure why you are referencing salt? I don’t think I said salt anywhere.. 🙂
Haha sorry I wasn’t clear at all. I was reading the comment above where Alex asks if this dish soap can be used in the dishwasher. You responded by saying
“Hey Alex, yes you can definitely use this in the dishwasher – just make sure you use larger-grain kosher salt, as fine salt may damage the dishwasher (alternatively, you can leave out the salt altogether).”
Your recipe doesn’t mention salt which is why I was confused lol I was interested in this comment because I too would like to try this in the dishwasher 🙂
Thank you for this recipe also! Just the thing I was looking for.
Ohhhhh, I recently changed up the recipe, because some people were having issues with the ingredients blending together. So I switched it up with another recipe 🙂
I replaced Dawn with Branch Basics a couple years ago. Read a lot about the company and many of their articles. Use it to clean many things.
Awesome!