Environmentalists call these 12 chemicals the Dirty Dozen. Here's why.

Warning: Abbreviations ahead!

You may have heard of the Dirty Dozen — 12 chemicals that activists have identified as potentially harmful that we regularly come in contact with in our home, health, and beauty products.

Over the past decade, a lot of science and research has gone into figuring out the long- and short-term health effects of products we use in our homes and on our bodies. The jury is still out on most of them, but some of the findings are worth a closer look.

In 2010, Canada's David Suzuki Foundation did a study on the 12 chemicals and compounds they felt consumers should try to avoid. Since the study was published, some governments have banned some of the chemicals and some companies are reformulating their products so they don't contain them.

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environment health fda chemicals ingredients food and drug administration cleaning triclosan formaldehyde dangerous toxic dirty dozen bha bht butylated hydroxyanisole butylated hydroxytoluene synthetic antioxidants coal tar dye p-phenylenediamine diethanolamine cocamide dea lauramide dea personal-care products skin irritation eye irritation long-term exposure short-term exposure dibutyl phthalate dbp preservatives parfum fragrance trade secrets polyethylene glycol petroleum compounds ethylene oxide petrolatum vaseline petroleum jelly polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons siloxanes cyclopentasiloxane cyclotetrasiloxane sodium laureth sulfate
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