Tide Agrees to Reduce Probable Carcinogen in Detergent

Procter & Gamble, makers of Tide and Tide Free & Gentle detergents, has agreed in a California court to reduce the levels of the chemical 1,4 dioxane in its laundry products.

EPA calls the chemical a “probably human carcinogen,” and California’s Proposition 65, the state law governing toxic chemical exposure in consumer products, classifies 1,4 dioxane as a known carcinogen.

P&G’s decision follows pressure from environmental groups and a lawsuit from a nonprofit. The chemical has been linked in animal studies to increased risk of breast cancer, according to Women’s Voices for the Earth, which has been calling on P&G to remove the carcinogen.