The Ultimate Green Household Cleaners Quiz

As of April 2008, sales of so-called natural cleaning products skyrocketed 23 percent over the previous year. According to The United States Environmental Protection Agency, environmentally friendly household cleaners have taken their rightful place on your supermarket shelves.

According to LiveScience staff writer, Andrea Thompson, manufacturers have no legal obligation to list the ingredients on product packaging, since doing so might reveal trade secrets. Therefore, it is left to the manufacturer's discretion and full product transparency is rare.

The EPA requires manufacturers of household cleaners to warn consumers only about toxicity. They are not obligated to list any of the more than 80,000 chemical compounds cleared for commercial use in the United States.

There is no government regulatory agency that defines which ingredients or products meet green standards. Manufacturers can voluntary offer their products for review by the Environmental Protection Agency's Design for Environment, Green Seal or other eco-labeling organizations for a stamp of approval.

Phthalates are chemical compounds also known as plasticizers that among other things, hold in fragrances in air fresheners. Canada recently banned them as a component in baby bottle plastics.

Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs)are chemicals that can pollute water supplies and may cause liver and kidney damage in humans. NPEs are already regulated in laundry detergents in the European Union and Canada.

Green cleaners often use plant derivatives from oranges and coconuts to replace potentially toxic chemicals.

Both petrochemicals and chlorine bleach can cause respiratory problems in children; in the case of petrochemicals, particles can get into the lungs if ingested.

Products made from organic materials can sometimes contain potentially harmful chemicals. For example, a carbon compound called d-limonene is derived from orange peels, but also reacts with ozone to create formaldehyde.

Non-carcinogenic means that a substance does not cause cancer in animals or so far in humans. Non-mutagenic products do not contain any compounds known to interrupt hormone production and function in the body.