Headline News

Key Points

• A non-profit group, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, tested a number of baby care products.

• Group’s tests show that more than half of baby shampoos, lotions and similar care products contain trace amounts of two chemicals. (Emphasis added)

• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called these two chemicals “probable carcinogens.”

• Although each product has tested “safe,” some health advocates have expressed concern about the “cumulative use” of a number of these products at the same time.

Washington Post

“More than half the baby shampoo, lotions and other infant care products analyzed by a health advocacy group were found to contain trace amounts of two cancer-causing chemicals, the organization said today.

“Some of the biggest names on the market, including Johnson& Johnson Baby Shampoo and Baby Magic baby lotion, tested positive for 1,4 dioxane or formaldehyde, or both, the non-profit Campaign for Safe Cosmetics reported.

“The chemicals, which have both been characterized as probable carcinogens by the Environmental Protection Agency, are not intentionally added to the products and do not appear on ingredient labels. Instead, they appear to be byproducts of the manufacturing process. Formaldehyde is created when other chemicals in the product begin to break down over time, while 1,4 dioxane is formed when foaming agents are combined with ethylene oxide or similar petrochemicals.”

The manufacturers of these products, well-known names, say that these items are safe.

The group says it does not want to alarm parents.

Health advocates are concerned about the possible cumulative effects of using a number of products with these chemicals in baby care.

Source: Washington Post, March 12, 2009