SC Johnson, the company behind Glade, Pledge, Windex, Shout, the Nature's Source line of less-toxic cleaners, and air-freshening candles and sprays, announced this morning that in addition to removing phthalates from their entire product line, they've launched a website providing detailed product information which will include full disclosure of fragrance ingredients.

The move positions the company as the first major brand to completely eliminate phthalates, many of which have been shown to have troubling effects on fetal development in pregnant women, from its entire product line, and to "go public" with their product information in a way that clearly communicates they have nothing to hide from consumers.

"As a family company, listening and responding to consumers is SC Johnson's top priority," Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson said in a company press release. "Today's families want to know what's in the household cleaning and air freshening products they use in their homes. Making information about the ingredients in our products readily accessible and easy to understand helps our consumers know they can continue to trust our products."

I'd credit companies like Seventh Generation - whose partnership with the Environmental Working Group has cracked open the issue of ingredient safety with their series of educational campaigns - with showing the marketable benefits of transparency for a company like SC Johnson, which already produces far less toxic products than many cleaning product companies.

The primary phthalate used in fragrances, DEP, was excluded from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, a reauthorization and update of the powers and responsibilities of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which went into effect on February 10. That act banned six phthalates - three (DEHP, DBP, and BBP) permanently, and three (DINP, DIDP, and DnOP) temporarily, while further studies are conducted - from all children's products. The fact that DEP was not included in this regulation suggests that it is considered less harmful than the other six, and this claim has been vigorously defended by the fragrance industry.

Johnson said as much in the company's statement announcing this change, and his frankness on this issue is commendable.

"The particular phthalate that raised concern - DEP - has been extensively researched and has been deemed safe by various scientific bodies," said Johnson. "But the larger class of substances in the phthalate family has been more hotly debated, and we understand that sometimes whole categories of substances can erroneously be seen as concerning despite individual items being safe. So even though the chemistry was sound, we decided that making sure consumers know they can trust SC Johnson products was well worth the time and cost to change them."

The company further reports that DEP was the sole phthalate that had been used in SC Johnson products. But their elimination from the brand continues a trend seen by researchers and activists watching the use of phthalates in the cosmetic industry. The Campaign for Safer Cosmetics announced in December of last year that it was finding significantly reduced levels of DEP (and phthalates generally) in cosmetics, despite industry claims of its safety.

Although fragrance information does not yet appear to be posted to the website, Johnson states that the company began working with suppliers to phase out DEP last summer.

Even more impressive than the company's announcement, however, is the actual website SC Johnson has created to share information about its products, What's Inside SC Johnson.

"The website is still a work in progress, but all ingredients are listed and then further broken down, so that you can actually research them individually if you so desire," said SafeMama's Kathy Scoleri, discussing the move on her blog this morning. "As it stands right now, it’s not mandatory (on household products), so a lot of people (including us) are left to guess as to whether or not it’s safe for our families." Scoleri noted also that the site is far from complete, and indeed, many product areas are not yet listed on the site. We're curious about those Glade Plug-Ins we always see commercials for, which I've always assumed are pretty bad news. I'd love for Glade to prove me wrong, for the sake of those hopped-up women in the commercials, if not for ourselves.

Information on ingredients in SC Johnson products will be available on their website, which is fast, in-depth, and user-friendly, as well as via phone and in more detailed product ingredient labels. The level of transparency is almost surreal, with an "MSDS" (Materials Safety Data Sheet) link at the foot of every page, which pops up a window offering the MSDS - a crucial, and often carefully guarded, piece of the chemical safety puzzle - for every SC Johnson product. You can view their truly groundbreaking website here.