Group: Johnson's baby shampoo a cancer risk
Johnson's baby shampoo / AP
TRENTON, New Jersey - Two chemicals considered harmful to babies remain in Johnson & Johnson's baby shampoo sold in the U.S. and some other countries, even though the company already makes versions without them, according to an international coalition of health and environmental groups.
Now the coalition is urging consumers to boycott Johnson & Johnson baby products until the company agrees to remove the chemicals from its baby products sold around the world, including in China and the U.K.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has unsuccessfully been urging the world's largest health care company for 2 1/2 years to remove the trace amounts of potentially cancer-causing chemicals — dioxane and a substance called quaternium-15 that releases formaldehyde — from Johnson's Baby Shampoo, one of its signature products.
Johnson & Johnson has said it is reducing or gradually phasing out the chemicals.
"Johnson & Johnson clearly can make safer baby shampoo in all the markets around the world, but it's not doing it," said Lisa Archer, director of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.
The campaign's new report, "Baby's Tub is Still Toxic," is set to be released Tuesday, when the group was launching the boycott via its Web site, http://www.safecosmetics.org.
The updated report was based on an examination of label ingredients for Johnson & Johnson baby products in 13 countries.
On Monday, the campaign sent Johnson & Johnson a letter, signed by about 25 environmental, medical and other groups representing about 3.5 million people in the U.S. and other countries. It urges the company to publicly commit by Nov. 15 to removing the chemicals from all personal care products worldwide.
In response, Johnson & Johnson said in a statement that formaldehyde-releasing preservatives are safe and approved by regulators in the U.S. and other countries, but that it is gradually phasing them out of its baby products. It said it is also reformulating baby products to reduce the level of dioxane below detectable levels. But it did not say whether it would respond to or meet the campaign's full demands.
The letter, addressed to CEO William Weldon, was signed by groups including the Breast Cancer Fund, Environmental Working Group, Friends of the Earth, American Nurses Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility and Green America.
According to the report, obtained by The Associated Press, one of the suspect chemicals, quaternium-15, is a preservative that kills bacteria by releasing formaldehyde. Formaldehyde, used as a disinfectant and embalming fluid, was declared a known human carcinogen this past June by the U.S. National Toxicology Program. Formaldehyde also is a skin, eye and respiratory irritant.
Quaternium-15 is still an ingredient on Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo sold in the U.S., Canada, China, Indonesia and Australia, but the campaign's research this summer found it's not in the same product sold in at least eight other countries, from the U.K. and Denmark to Japan and South Africa.
The second chemical, 1,4-dioxane, is considered a likely carcinogen. It's a byproduct of a process for making chemicals more soluble and gentler on the skin.
The campaign's May 2009 report, called "No More Toxic Tub," stated that studies by an independent laboratory it hired, Analytical Sciences LLC, found that 1,4-dioxane was contained in Johnson & Johnson's Baby Shampoo, Oatmeal Baby Wash, Moisture Care Baby Wash and Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Creamy Wash.
According to the report, the company has since launched a baby shampoo called Johnson's Naturals, sold in the U.S., that does not include 1,4-dioxane. But original Johnson's baby shampoo, which costs about half as much, has not been reformulated for the U.S. market, according to the campaign.
Analytical Sciences tested multiple J&J baby product samples from the U.S. for the first report, finding low levels of the chemicals. After that, according to Archer, consumer groups in South Africa, Sweden and Japan contacted her group to note that quaternium-15 was not being used in products in their countries.
Archer noted that some of the countries where the products did not contain the harsh chemicals had bans on them in personal care products, but others didn't.
Popular in Health
- Shocking study: Math skills improved by electric stimulus
- Flesh-eating disease victim gets bionic hands
- Controversial update to psychiatry manual, DSM-5, arrives
- Skin cancer self-exam: What to look for (PHOTOS)
- Handbags may contain more germs than average toilet flush
- Doctor: Gel manicures a potential skin cancer risk
- CDC: One in five U.S. kids has mental health disorder
- Depression may double stroke risk for middle-aged women
Well, no need to pull in China. They have more poison in their own food ...
I also wouldn't trust their "all natural" line without checking the numbers on it either. Arsenic and cyanide are "all natural" but a person sure wouldn't want them in their shampoo.
...nobody is getting cancer from shampoo, that is just silly.
You don't know that.
"You should be aware, that raw formaldehyde vapors and fumes are being released all the time from new carpet and building materials, much worse than the minute amount in baby shampoo....that is much more the cause of cancer than a product like this."
It doesn't matter. It all adds up. And one thing can be more toxic than another, even if it's a smaller amount.
Not long ago I heard that there is formaldehyde in our clothes! It's in stuff that is made with polyester, I think. I'm not as concerned because I try to buy everything in cotton. Of course it has it's own problems. The only thing we can do is try and eliminate the bad as much as we can and hope for the best.
I purchase it at Whole Foods.
The FDA's function is NOT to protect the public's health and well-being. Anyone who cannot accept this fact, is 'off the planet'.
Corporate greed and bribery, as is FDA's practice, made a major contribution towards destroying America!
Pharmaceuticals, drugs, etc, which are produced by BigPharma companies, are often carcingenic, or otherwise very damaging to the recipent/victims.
Alternative treatment and diet, is the way to go.
See Dr Mercola, expose the truth about our fraudulent medical/surgical/pharmaceutical industries!