WASHINGTON _ "Saturday Night Live" alums Maya Rudolph and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., teamed up on Tuesday to push legislation for full disclosure of chemicals in institutional and household cleaning products.
"Maya and I were just discussing this. She has four _ wow _ four kids. Wow," Franken said to kick off the panel. "I have two children and three grandchildren now and I want to make sure that they're not exposed to toxic chemicals and the people that work with cleaning products day in and day out, especially, shouldn't have to worry about the long term exposure and their own health and safety."
Following Franken's laugh heard from down the hallway, the two walked into the panel, hosted by Seventh Generation, which produces green cleaning products.
"I'm really no stranger to spills and dirt and explosions, both food and otherwise. I have two dogs and we actually have five rabbits. There's a lot of stuff going on in the house," Rudolph said.
The panel was organized around Rep. Steve Israel's, D-N.Y., introduction on the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act in the House in May.
Franken acknowledged the success of other chemical related bills _ the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act.
"That's a great start but it doesn't mean it should stop there... consumers want to know what's in their cleaning products," he said.
Israel could not attend because he was on a plane back from the debate on Long Island.
When asked what Rudolph would say to a member of Congress about this issue, she said, "This is a human health priority. It's that simple."
Rudolph got on board with this issue while she was cleaning up a stain from her new puppy and took a look at what she was using.
"Why is my cleaner orange, shouldn't it be clear? And what's actually in those 'fragrances' that makes me cleaner smell like a fruit salad?" Rudolph said she asked herself.
She said cleaning products should be odorless, colorless and spotless.
"As a lot of you know, becoming a parent is a bit of a wake up call... we go through life eating a lot of crap and doing a lot of things to ourselves to make us pretty and smell nice," she said.
Franken joked about beauty products usage, "I think all of you can probably tell that I've used a lot of beauty products and I really thank you for your efforts on that as well to keep my face beautiful."
The senator left before the panel started and joked, "I have some very important work to do back at the United States Senate."
Seventh Generation announced its $15 million advertising campaign with Rudolph in April.
"I think we need to change the perception of clean and we need to choose products that consider human health and the environment and list the ingredients on the label," Rudolph said. "It's time to come clean, which I've been saying on behalf of Seventh Generation."
She said her commercials for Seventh Generation, the most famous entitled, 'Vajingle,' are funny because that's the space she feels comfortable in.
"You picked the right lady to not have any shame and talk about the things people don't want to talk about," Rudolph said.
The comedian said her mother died of breast cancer at 31 years old, which also affects her devotion to cleaning up toxic products.
Also present at the panel were representatives from Breast Cancer Fund, Women's Voices for the Earth and the American Lung Association.
