Washington, D.C. -- You know what's in your food and many beauty products. Senator Al Franken wants to make it possible to see exactly what's in your household cleaning products as well.

The Minnesota Democrat introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate requiring producers to fully disclose all ingredients on their product labels, including those suspected of causing long-term harm. Currently the warnings on cleansers are designed to prevent immediate harm due to swallowing, splashing in eyes or other unintended uses.

"If your child has asthma and there's a cleanser that has something in it like a phthalate, that can cause or aggravate asthma," Sen. Franken explained Tuesday, "You like to be able to look at your cleanser and say, 'Ah, my child has that. I will stop using that now.'"

Environmental health advocacy groups, such as the Women's Voices for the Earth, have targeted chemicals such as phthalates, glycol ethers and monoethanolamine found in household cleaning products. Some are used to add fragrances, and others serve as surfactants to help lift dirt and grease off surfaces and fabrics.

Representative Steve Israel, a New York Democrat, is sponsoring the companion legislation in the U.S. House. Local environmental groups call the measure an important step on the road to ridding products of harmful substances altogether.

"It's a good first step," Kim LeBeau of Clean Water Action told KARE, "But it's even more essential that we fix the broken federal regulatory system. There or thousands of chemicals being used in American products and the government has only tested 40 of them."

Commonly voiced concerns range from toxins building in lakes and rivers, effecting genetics in fish and other wildlife, to breathing problems for people with asthma.

"There is some research pointing to these chemicals causing asthma, learning disabilities, reproductive health problems and cancers," environmental consumer advocate Julia Earl told KARE.

She heads an organization known as Preventing Harm Minnesota and is the mother of an asthmatic child.

"You hear from friends or professional cleaners that when they work they get an irritated throat, or sinus passages, or start coughing," she said, "When that was happening to me I had to think twice. What's that doing for my son?"

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