Are You Washing Your Baby with Formaldehyde Laced Products?

What do Johnson's Baby Shampoo, Sesame Street Bubble Bath, Grins and Giggles Milk & Honey Baby Washing and Huggies Naturally Refreshing Cucumber and Green Tea Baby Wash all have in common? I know your first guess will probably be they are all baby products. That is correct, they all are baby products, which make the next reason for their commonality all the more shocking. Johnson's Baby Shampoo, Sesame Street Bubble Bath, Grins and Giggles Milk & Honey Baby Washing and Huggies Naturally Refreshing Cucumber and Green Tea Baby Wash were recently tested and found to contain formaldehyde and the lesser known 1,4 dioxane as one of the ingredients present in them.

We are all familiar with formaldehyde? It is popularly associated with and used as a embalming and taxidermy chemical. It is also used in a variety of building and construction products. Now it is beginning to show up in children's bath products at an alarming rate. According to Healthy Legacy, a division of Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, "23 of 28 tested baby bath products contained formaldehyde levels that exceed the levels which Health Canada reports as dangerous. Baby Magic Baby Lotion had the highest levels of the chemical found in any baby bath product tested. American Girl Show bath products had the highest levels of 1,4 dioxane of the 48 tested. 1,4 dioxane has been banned in Europe for use in personal care products."

After a 10 years study, to determine at what levels did formaldehyde presents a cancer risk, the European Union banned the chemical use of formaldehyde in personal care products in 2007. They also later banned the use 1,4 dioxane in personal-care products. Japan and Sweden also have bans on formaldehyde use in personal-care products, and recently Canada has placed tight controls on the substance. The United States does not currently limit the use formaldehyde, 1,4 dioxane, or other hazardous substances in personal-care products.

You may remember formaldehyde was the target of an extended study following Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane victims living in mobile home trailers, provided to them by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), reported breathing difficulty, nosebleeds and persistent headaches. It was discovered the mobile home's wall insulation contained formaldehyde and was responsible for their discomforts. This same problem resurfaced for victims of the 2008 floods in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Could the toxic chemicals in children's products be responsible for the state of the health of today's adults? Is it possible their parents used these or similar toxic latent baby and personal care products on them during their childhood? Could it be these chemicals leeched into there tissues and remained dormant in there system for years and are activating now, resulting in rising cancer rates, heart problems and a host of autoimmune disorders? Is this what the future holds for today's children?

U.S. personal care product manufacturers are allowed to include almost any ingredient they wish in personal-care products with no required safety assessment. Is that right? Isn't time we begin demanding our legislative representatives institute policies to protect us and our children against the toxic chemicals allowed in personal care products?

Resource: Minnesota Post - Formaldehyde Present in Many Kids Bath Products Test Find -- http://www.minnpost.com/ronway/2009/03/12/7335/formaldehyde_present_in_many_kids_bath_products_tests_find