Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection to meet tomorrow to discuss laundry detergent standards; Miao Guan Jia sends lawyer's letter demanding the Homemakers United Foundation Environmental Protection Foundation clarify

Miao Guan Jia laundry detergent, advertised as antibacterial and dust mite resistant, was found late last year to contain the insecticide permethrin, and the Homemakers United Foundation Environmental Protection Foundation revealed earlier this month that some laundry detergents contain fungicides and disinfectants used for agricultural and medical purposes, such as "Thiabendazole" and "Glutaraldehyde," highlighting the chaos in domestic regulation of laundry detergent ingredients. To patch the holes, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection under the Ministry of Economic Affairs will convene the National Standards Technical Committee at 9:30 tomorrow morning to draft revisions to the national standard, stipulating that environmental agents and pesticides governed by the "Environmental Agents Management Act" and the "Pesticide Management Act" must not be added to laundry detergent.

Many households specifically choose antibacterial, dust mite resistant laundry detergents to improve allergy discomfort, but an investigation by NewsMarket and the Homemakers United Foundation Environmental Protection Foundation found that anti-mite agents in laundry detergents are diverse, including ingredients used for environmental, agricultural and medical purposes, such as "permethrin," "Thiabendazole," and "Glutaraldehyde," which may fail to relieve allergies and instead affect health, and when they flow into water bodies they create an environmental burden.

Taiwan, China's chemical management assigns responsibilities by use, but neither the Council of Agriculture, which oversees pesticides, nor the Environmental Protection Administration, which oversees environmental agents, has said laundry detergent exceeds its scope of duties, and that it should be handled by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which oversees commodities, to uniformly set restriction rules.

To that end, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection convened the National Standards Technical Committee for Daily Necessities on December 6 last year, and many experts at the meeting believed that it should be explicitly stipulated that laundry detergent must not contain environmental agents and pesticide ingredients; the Bureau will convene the committee again at 9:30 tomorrow morning in the Bureau's grand auditorium to revise the laundry detergent standard.

At present, the Republic of China national standard CNS 2477 Synthetic Detergents for Laundry only sets test standards and detection limits for triclosan, nonylphenol surfactants and formaldehyde, and the new draft stipulates that environmental agents and pesticides governed by the "Environmental Agents Management Act" and the "Pesticide Management Act" must not be added to laundry detergent.

In addition, current commodity labeling regulations only require businesses to label main and specific ingredients, and the draft also proposes requiring businesses to label all ingredients, and to write the Chinese chemical names of the ingredients, rather than naming them by function, so that in the future consumers will no longer see names such as insecticide, fungicide and anti-mite agent.

In response, Huang Jialin, secretary-general of the Homemakers United Foundation Environmental Protection Foundation, said she is optimistic and hopes laundry detergent will return to being laundry detergent, without arbitrarily adding unnecessary chemical substances. In addition, regarding extra additives including essences and fragrances, Huang Jialin also asked the competent authorities to review them as well.

However, before the law is amended, the Homemakers United Foundation Environmental Protection Foundation received a lawyer's letter commissioned by Miao Guan Jia on January 13, claiming that permethrin can be used for medical, environmental agent, functional insect-resistant clothing fiber ingredient, pest control, and anti-mite agent purposes, and that the Foundation "directly calling" permethrin a pesticide misleads consumers and causes panic.

In addition, Miao Guan Jia also claimed that to test the concentration of permethrin, one should test the residual amount of permethrin after clothing is washed, not the original liquid of the laundry detergent. Miao Guan Jia demanded that the Homemakers United Foundation Environmental Protection Foundation publicly clarify within 5 days for its improper statements, and "hopes to be spared the burden of litigation."

But as of today, the Homemakers United Foundation Environmental Protection Foundation has not yet replied in writing to Miao Guan Jia. Miao Guan Jia spokesperson Zhou Zhicheng said no decision has been made on the next step, and that sending the lawyer's letter was merely to clarify the truth. He said that if one follows the Foundation's reasoning, all products registered as pesticides could only be used as pesticides, "which is unscientific," and he hopes the Foundation will publicly clarify.

In response, Huang Jialin said she had called Miao Guan Jia's lawyer to communicate, but the Foundation is not targeting Miao Guan Jia; rather, it hopes the competent authorities will face up to the problem of unclear ingredients in laundry detergent. The Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection is currently revising the draft, and if a manufacturer can move ahead of the government and be the first to say it will not use these drugs, it can help the public regain confidence.

Huang Jialin stressed that if businesses believe chemical drugs help their products, they should prove they are harmless to human health, propose a mechanism of action, and disclose the added ingredients and whether they affect aquatic organisms.

For related reports, please click "Laundry Detergent Insecticide Abuse Investigation Series"