Explaining the SC Johnson Greenlist™ Program: An Excerpt from Our 2017 Sustainability Report

Since 2001, SC Johnson’s Greenlist™ program has guided the company’s product development. The goal is simple: continually improve our products by choosing ingredients that better protect human health and the environment.

With consumers more interested than ever to know what’s inside the products they use, we’re sharing the specifics behind how we select the ingredients that go into our products. This is more detail than any other company in our industry provides. 

As our Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson explained, “We hope others will follow our lead and share their own scientific method. More transparency simply raises the bar for everyone.”

In our 2017 Sustainability Report, you can see the science and care that goes into choosing the ingredients in SC Johnson products like Glade®, Pledge®, Mr Muscle® and OFF!®.

The Greenlist™ program goes well beyond what’s legally required. And, it’s a significant investment to spend time and resources on every single ingredient decision. But it’s our commitment to the families who use our products: We will always make the most informed choices we can, as we continually work toward making our products as safe and environmentally responsible as possible.

It Starts with Data

The Greenlist™ program is grounded by a rigorous, ongoing effort to collect best-in-class data about ingredients and their impacts. This includes reviewing supplier information and filling any gaps with other publicly available, scientifically rigorous data from sources like the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s TOXNET and the European Chemicals Agency database. 

Setting Standards for Safe

At a high enough exposure, any ingredient, even water, can be dangerous. And at a low enough exposure, everything is safe. The key is to identify the level at which an ingredient can be used safely.

Our hazard assessment provides a starting point. If the science indicates a potential hazard, we assess risk based on how a product will be used, who will be exposed to it, to how much, for how long and how often. 

We look at the broadest likely exposure scenarios, as an extra margin to establish a “safer than safe” standard.

Four Steps to Better

Grounded by data and our safety standards, we put each ingredient through a four-step evaluation that combines hazard and risk assessment.

The steps look at each ingredient for: 1) chronic human health hazards, 2) long-term environmental hazards, 3) acute risks to human and environmental health, and 4) other potential effects such as allergic reactions. 

Risk assessments are triggered for any ingredient that doesn’t pass the hazard criteria. The results guide our product development.