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Cleaner or pesticide

What to say instead

Updated

On this page5

The practical page. Every claim a cleaning product wants to make has a compliant version, and the compliant version is usually the better copy.

The substitution is easy

"Kills 99.9% of germs" becomes "cuts through grease and grime".

"Antibacterial" becomes "powerful everyday cleaner".

"Disinfects the kitchen" becomes "for kitchen surfaces, worktops and appliances".

"Kills mold" becomes "removes mold and mildew stains".

"Eliminates odor-causing bacteria" becomes "removes the source of the smell".

Soil, not organisms

The mental rule that makes this automatic: describe what comes off the surface, never what happens to anything living on it.

Grease, grime, soap scum, limescale, burnt-on food, hard water marks, fingerprints, pet mess. All of them are things a cleaner removes and none of them is a microorganism.

Specific beats general

Compliance and good copy point the same way here, which is unusual.

"Kills germs" is a claim everybody makes and nobody believes. "Removes hard water marks from glass without streaking" is specific, checkable and more persuasive.

The specific claim is also the one a customer can verify, which is what produces a repeat purchase.

The claims worth making

What it is for. Surfaces, materials, rooms.

What it removes. Named soils.

How it behaves. Streak-free, no rinse needed, low foam, no residue.

What is in it, factually, with the ingredient list.

What it does not contain, carefully, and read the Green Guides before writing "free from" anything.

How it is made, which is a fact rather than a claim and is the differentiator a small maker actually has.

References

US Environmental Protection Agency. Determining If a Cleaning Product Is a Pesticide Under FIFRA. A cleaner that claims to clean and degrease is not a pesticide; the same product claiming to kill germs is. The claim triggers it, not the chemistry. epa.gov
US Federal Trade Commission. Green Guides, 16 CFR Part 260, on environmental marketing claims including "non-toxic", "natural", "biodegradable" and unqualified general environmental benefit claims. ftc.gov
Written from the federal regulation and agency guidance named on each page, not from a laboratory or a legal practice. Whether a particular product and a particular label make a cleaner or a pesticide is a determination about your product, and this is not that determination.