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Why Show What We're Made Of?

We support your right to know about what’s inside the products you use in your home

We understand you use our products around the people, pets and things you love. So naturally, you want to know what's in them. That's why we created this site – to make information about the ingredients in our U.S. products readily accessible and easy to understand.

Why Do This?

Our Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson said it best when he announced this initiative in March 2009: "As a family company, listening and responding to consumers is SC Johnson's top priority. 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."

It's Not Just a Web Site

This U.S. site is part of a broad ingredient communication program. We're putting our product ingredients on this site, but we're also making them available through our toll-free consumer hotline and we're adding them to our product labels. So whether you want to learn about our products from the comfort of your computer desk, pick up the phone and call our hotline, or simply find what you need when you take a product off the shelf...we'll have you covered.

And, We'll Tell You More

SC Johnson's ingredient communication plan builds on a household products industry right-to-know initiative that was announced in late 2008. It's a solid program, and we applaud it. In fact, we're so committed to your right to know that we're going to go significantly further.

Our plan includes:

Listing all ingredients, including dyes, preservatives and fragrance ingredients.
Focusing on a single naming system – the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients – for simplicity and clarity. These are terms you're used to seeing on make up and personal products.
Not just listing, but defining ingredients, and including an explanation of their purpose in the product.
Communicating in English as well as Spanish
Adding products from SC Johnson Canada.

Where is Info Available?

Online: you've found it here at www.whatsinsidescjohnson.com. We've got various products and ingredient information already in place, with more to come as we continue to fully populate the site by January 2012.

Toll-free Consumer Resource Center: You can also get the information you need by calling SC Johnson's toll-free Consumer Resource Center at 1-800-558-5252.

Packaging: Within two years, you'll find ingredients listed on SC Johnson home cleaning and air freshening product packages.

GreenList

A Look Inside Our Process

Since developing our Greenlist™ process in 2001, SC Johnson has rated more than 95% of the raw materials we use. This means we aim to make the best ingredient choices to protect people and the planet, while maintaining product performance.

For example, through reformulations over the last five years we've eliminated 48 million pounds of VOCs from of our products. And, we're continually seeking better ingredient options. This is one way we're working to lessen our environmental impact and do what's right for the families who use our products.

You can find out more about the Greenlist™ process here.

Our Enviromental Progress

2000-2001

( Kg of Raw Material by Environmental Classification,
5 Base Categories )

2000-2001

2007-2008

( Kg of Raw Material by Environmental Classification,
37 Chemical and 12 Component Material Types ) 2007-2008

We all care about what's in the products we use in our homes and around our families. And here at SC Johnson, we're working to select better and better ingredients for health, the environment and product performance. But in recent years, the media and other groups have contributed to heightened concerns about chemicals in the home. So, we wanted to take this opportunity answer a few questions about chemicals in household products.

Why use chemicals at all...why not make products from natural ingredients?

Keep in mind that all materials are "chemicals." For example, water is a combination of the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen (H2O), and air is a mix of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gases. Also, there are plenty of chemicals found in nature that are toxic, such as arsenic and cyanide. Importantly, sometimes a synthetic ingredient is a better choice for any number of reasons, including sustainability. For example, using a natural ingredient that's in short supply could wipe out what's left of it, so using a virtually limitless synthetic might be more responsible. SC Johnson does use ingredients found in nature, but only when they meet our strict standards for health, the environment and product performance.

Why use additives like dyes, preservatives and fragrances...why not just use the basic ingredients a product needs?

Dyes, preservatives and fragrances provide valuable benefits. Dyes are an important visual cue that helps you know where you're spraying a product and, in fact, that it's the product you intended to use. Preservatives prevent the growth of microbes as products sit on store shelves or in the home, helping the products last longer and perform better, without becoming spoiled. Finally, many people associate a fresh fragrance with a clean and

welcoming home, and they specifically seek out products that offer this added benefit.

What's more important: the chemical or the quantity used?

Both are important, but quantity is key. Think of it this way: Most everyone would agree that water is a harmless chemical. But even water can be deadly if you drink too much of it. The important thing in product development is to select the right chemical to achieve the goal, and to use only the amount that is proven to be safe and effective. At SC Johnson, we aim to use the smallest effective percentage of key ingredients, and we always ensure that our products meet or exceed accepted safety and regulatory standards.

Aren't natural products better?

Not necessarily. "Natural" or home remedies are not necessarily safer, effective or lower in allergens. In fact, many natural products undergo limited or no scientific testing compared to the extensive toxicological evaluations that companies like SC Johnson require for their product formulations. In contrast, SC Johnson products must meet or surpass all relevant regulatory requirements in the United States, Europe and any country where the
product will be sold.

Do natural products contain fewer allergens than products made from synthetic materials?

Not in all cases. Products made from natural materials may have more allergens than products made from synthetic materials. For example, fragrances made from natural fragrance materials contain allergens at fairly high levels, while fragrances made primarily synthetic materials contain much lower levels. SC Johnson ensures that the allergen levels in all its products can be used safely by consumers.

Why These Ingredient Names?

We're trying to make our ingredient communications transparent and understandable, and we believe that means using a single scientific naming system wherever possible rather than following different systems for different products. For this reason, SC Johnson's ingredient descriptions primarily use the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients, or INCI, names. We decided to focus on INCI names because they have been used for years on cosmetics and other products, making them more recognizable for many people. Where INCI names are not relevant, we use ingredient names from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) or use a functional description of the ingredient.

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