Pressure Points
Trusted for a reason
Cleaning, disinfectant brands fight back against online counterfeits
The Household & Commercial Products Association
(HCPA) is honored to represent the cleaning and disinfectant
product companies that are in every home and
institution across the country. These brands have built longstanding
reputations with their customers by being reliable, safe
and effective. Unfortunately, the trust in our industry’s products
is being eroded by the presence of bad actors producing and selling
products that have none of these qualities. These sellers are
out of compliance with Federal and State laws, and their only
recourse is to sell clandestinely on e-commerce platforms. Generally,
these are counterfeit products and illegal sales, and HCPA
is working hard to limit the presence of these unsafe products in
U.S. homes and workplaces.
HCPA members take their responsibility to their consumers
very seriously, understanding that while their products need to
work, they also need be safe. While HCPA members conduct
extensive testing and quality control, sellers of these counterfeit
and illegal product are not so detail-oriented; they are looking
to make a quick buck by selling their tonics and snake oils, and
make unsubstantiated promises that their products are safe
for consumers and the environment. This has been a growing
problem in the U.S. since the dawn of e-commerce, where little
work is done to verify products or their manufacturer, and cheap
online advertising can confuse consumers. It is a technological
“perfect storm” that is even more threatening in the age of
COVID-19.
As U.S. consumers continue to self-quarantine and fear
increases over the presence of this pathogen on personal and
communal surfaces, people are looking for additional ways to
Owen Caine
protect themselves. Since the start of the pandemic, the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been committed
to identifying products that can be used against SARS-CoV-2,
the virus that causes COVID-19, and making this information
available through List N. The surface disinfectants on List N
are registered with the EPA and meet certain criteria, including
demonstrating efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 or a harder-to-kill
virus. However, reports from the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) have detailed the increase in counterfeit and illegal products,
especially cleaning products, being sold with the promise
of killing COVID-19. These illegal claims pose a great threat
to consumers, not just because the products do not work, but
because they often contain dangerous ingredients and lack clear
instructions for use. As HCPA members work around-the-clock
to produce large quantities of EPA-approved disinfectants that
are safe and effective, these shameless actors on the Internet
are undermining the very certainty and safety HCPA member
companies promote.
To address this emerging threat, HCPA is one of the industry
groups in a coalition lobbying Congress to support legislation that
would require e-commerce platforms to gather the same information
on products and vendors that brick-and-mortar retailers must
collect.
Legislation has been introduced to fight these counterfeit products,
including the Stopping All Nefarious Toys in America Act
(SANTA ACT); the Integrity, Notification & Fairness in Online
Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act (INFORM Consumers
Act); and the Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening
Against Fakes in E-commerce Act (SHOP SAFE Act). These
bills propose needed steps to prevent an overwhelming number of
counterfeit and illegal products sold on the Internet from ending
up in U.S. homes.
HCPA’s ultimate concern is always with the safety of the consumer.
Our members produce needed products under brands that
people trust so that, in times like these, consumers can have confidence
in the products they use to keep themselves safe. HCPA will
continue its fight, in Congress and beyond, against the repugnant
entities that would look to undermine that faith. Spray
10 Spray September 2020
The illegal claims of counterfeit products
pose a great threat to consumers, not just
because they don't work, but because they
often contain dangerous ingredients and
lack clear instructions for use...
Executive VP,
Government Relations
& Public Policy, HCPA
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