Friday May 17^th 2013

No more tears? I would rather have no more formaldehyde. I just might get my wish. Today, the personal care giant announced that it would voluntarily (after consistent pressure from the public and groups like EWG) remove hidden formaldehyde from their baby products like baby shampoo and baby washes.

Don’t see formaldehyde listed on the back of your bottle of “no more tears” shampoo? Formaldehyde is “hidden” in these products in ingredient names like “DMDM hydantoin“, and “1,4 dioxane” (which is “hidden” in listed ingredients like “fragrance”. It’s all a big fun game, you see.).

“There’s a very lively public discussion going on about the safety of ingredients in personal care products,” said Susan Nettesheim, VP for product stewardship and toxicology for J & J.

Lively discussion? If someone was selling you shampoo for your baby that had cancer causing agents hidden in it, I hardly think the discussion with that person would be “lively”.

About the known cancer causing (as listed on the US EPA carcinogen list) chemicals, Ms Nettesheim says, ““…as a scientist I will sit here and tell you these things are perfectly safe.” I wonder what shampoo she uses on her kids?

To J & J’s credit, they are also going to phase out other harmful chemicals like pthalates and parabens which have estrogen-like properties and are suspected to be linked to hormone related cancers. They plan to phase these chemicals out in their adult brands as well. Johnson & Johnson also operates under squeaky clean names like Neutrogena, Aveno, and Clean & Clear.

Hopefully this will have a domino effect and other big names will follow. I would score this as a victory for everyone who wants to wash their kid’s hair without risk of exposing them to carcinogens.

I would advise you to wait to use the new J & J products until you see the big bright labels that say “No more carcinogens!” As The Savvy Sister says ” Your skin is a carrier…NOT a barrier!”