Originally Posted by tricky
Simple Green advertises itself as non-toxic. I doubt that it contains ammonia.
Hmm, you may be right.
Originally Posted by Sunshine Makers, Inc.
Ingredients - What are the ingredients in Simple Green?
All-Purpose Simple Green is made of water, surfactants (surface-active-agents), wetting agents, emulsifiers, green colorant and fragrance. Simple Green does not contain chlorine (bleach), ammonia, formaldehyde or petroleum distillates.
Ingredients - Why aren't the ingredients listed on the label?
Simple Green is non-toxic. Sunshine Makers, Inc. has had the required independent laboratory tests conducted to verify this. Therefore, it is not required by law to list the ingredients on the label. Simple Green's unique formula is protected under the US trade Secrecy Act. Simple Green complies with all current labeling requirements for ingredient disclosure on cleaning products. Some disclosure of ingredients will be given on a case by case basis as required by physicians, veterinarians, or highway safety agents.
However, since they are not required to list ingredients on their label, how do we know they aren't bribing government officials?
I don't know why, but it's odor reminds me of ammonia. There have been flame wars over SG's non-toxicity in the Mechanics forum. Essentially, it's not a wonder product with absolutely no toxicity to the environment, but it is signficantly lower than other cleaners.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0209-03.htm
A word from the manufacturer about toxicity:
Originally Posted by Sunshine Makers, Inc.
In reality, everything is toxic in large enough quantities. A person could consume enough milk, chocolate or even water to cause fatality. OSHA measures a substance by a test method called the Lethal Dosage 50 (LD50.) This is a number expressed as grams of the test substance to kilograms of body weight at which 50% of the test population dies. Therefore, the smaller the number, the more toxic a substance is. For example, it might take many, many of grams of soft drink per kilogram of body weight to kill 50% or more of the test subjects, where arsenic might only take less than one gram per kilogram of body weight to have the same rate of fatality. OSHA sets the ingestion toxicity limit at 5 grams per kilogram of body weight. If a substance is over 5 grams per kilogram, it is considered non-toxic - at or under 5 grams per kilogram is toxic.
Simple Green is almost three times the 5-gram minimum to be considered non-toxic. Therefore, we are able to put the words non-toxic on our label. Because our product is used in the US workplace, the testing is required by law. We are one of the very few cleaning products that you will see on the consumer cleaning product shelf that bears the words non-toxic on the label. The others are either toxic, or they are not used in the workplace and do not have to perform the testing to determine their toxicity level.
http://consumer.simplegreen.com/cons_faqs.php