Study Finds Unlabelled Chemicals in Personal Care and Cleaning Products

Do we actually know which chemicals are present in the personal care and cleaning products used each day?

A newly published study in Environment & Health indicates that we may not.

Earlier research has suggested that manufacturers and product labels do not always provide the complete picture of what everyday items contain. This led researchers from several US institutions to investigate further.

Personal care and cleaning products examined

The researchers assessed the chemical make-up of 113 personal care and cleaning products across 12 categories, including laundry products, sunscreen, baby lotions, shampoo, deodorant, and toothpaste.

The products tested were not identified by name, although they had been sold through Target, Amazon, Walmart and Dollar Tree.

Nearly all products contained chemicals absent from their labels. (Schultz et al., Environ. Health, 2026)

An enormous 98 percent of the products had at least one chemical missing from the label. In addition, 85 percent contained at least one unlabelled substance known or suspected to pose a risk to human health.

"We found undisclosed harmful chemicals in products claiming to be free of them," says environmental health scientist Jenna Hua of the Million Marker Research Institute in the US.

"That means someone can carefully read ingredient lists, choose 'clean' products, and still end up exposed to the very chemicals they were trying to avoid.

"The label can't protect you when it doesn't show what's really in the bottle."

More than 1 in 4 products contained chemicals that conflicted with their marketing claims. (Schultz et al., Environ. Health, 2026)

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals and health concerns

Among the substance groups examined in particular were endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which can imitate or obstruct the body's natural hormones. Hormones act as vital biological messengers, and EDCs disrupt their function.

EDCs have been associated with numerous health conditions, ranging from breast cancer to obesity.

The study suggests that people who understand the risks posed by EDCs and seek to avoid them may nevertheless encounter them without realising it.

"The label can't protect you when it doesn't show what's really in the bottle." – Environmental health scientist Jenna Hua

"People shouldn't need a chemistry lab to know what they're bringing into their homes or putting on their skin," says Hua.

"The next generation of product safety must look beyond the label and test what is actually there."

Unlabelled chemicals that conflict with product claims

The team searched for chemicals using non-targeted analysis. As its name implies, this method does not begin with the name of a specific chemical and then look for it; rather, it builds a complete inventory of the substances present.

Over one quarter of products contained chemicals at odds with marketing or labelling claims, including '100 percent natural' and 'hypoallergenic'.

The researchers emphasise that these additional chemicals are not necessarily deliberately added.

For instance, they may arise through contamination during manufacturing or storage, or from unforeseen chemical reactions among ingredients.

Nevertheless, the team is calling for stronger regulation and independent testing of products sold in shops.

"For certain chemical categories, such as fragrances or botanicals, companies do not legally have to disclose all chemicals in the product," write the researchers.

"In the case of 'fragrance', many chemicals can be umbrellaed under the term and are not disclosed due to 'trade secrets'… In the case of botanicals, plant products can contain hundreds of individual chemicals that, although they may be 'naturally-derived', can still be harmful and should be disclosed."

It is important to note that the study did not assess any health effects caused by these chemicals; it only established which chemicals were present. Determining the potential harm from these substances, and the doses at which it occurs, could be a subsequent research step.

Even so, public health requires consumers to receive better information about what is contained in the products they buy.

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"Future research should focus on expanding non-targeted analytical approaches to additional product categories and improving identification confidence for unknown chemical features," write the researchers.

"Testing should be done on the finished, packaged product, and improved methods for tracing sources of contamination across supply chains may help clarify the origins of unlabeled compounds detected in consumer products."

The research appears in Environment & Health.

This article was fact-checked by Rachel Garner and edited by Fiona MacDonald. Although we take pride in our process, we are only human. If you notice an error, please tell us.