Legislation keeping dishwashing detergents that contain phosphorous off of store shelves in Wisconsin heads to the governor.
Approval of the bill on detergents comes in the wake of an earlier ban on lawn fertilizers containing the chemical. State Representative Spencer Black says phosphorus is responsible for algae blooms and excess weed growth that detract from the water quality of Wisconsin’s lakes and streams.
Phosphorous is already banned from the majority of soaps, but there’s an exemption for products used in automatic dishwashers, and this bill would add those products to the list. Black says major companies that make the detergents have agreed to the change, and will have until summer of 2010 to get new products on the market that are phosphorous free, something that’s not expected to increases prices consumers pay.