With the Gulf of Mexico oil spill heavy on minds everywhere these days, taking care of the environment seems even more important.

It’s all a matter of choice, from deciding whether to throw away or recycle that cardboard cereal box to what ends up in your grocery cart.

And in the cleaning aisle at the local market, plenty of products sport enviro-labels touting their safety to the environment and those living in it. Judging from the number of logos with the word “green” in them, it’s pretty easy to buy products that not only leave your home clean and shiny but that also help Mother Nature.

Or is it?

Merely slapping an eye-catching green logo on a product does not ensure its environmental worthiness, experts say. That’s true in part because there are few labeling requirements for manufacturers of cleaning products. So anyone can call a product “green” without having to prove it is, says Dee Ferguson, owner of A Green Way Home Cleaning in Kansas City.