For the past 1 month there has been rumors floating around about the banning of Johnson & Johnson baby products, as I browsed through the news papers they were not very informative except for the fact that they have carcinogenic substances. When I started digging more about this, reports of toxic substances in many of the baby products came up.

When Sharrvath was born, we received lots of J&J gift hampers so I started using all the products. For the first month we didn't notice anything but slowly his skin started becoming very dry and started to break and small ulcers developed. I was terribly alarmed and when we consulted a dermatologist he adviced first to stop J&J

Then he gave a big lecture about the toxic effects of the products, I felt very bad and ashamed , being a doctor I was unaware of the toxic effects and put my son through all this trouble.

After that for all newborns I advice against these products.

It has also been proved that the adult cosmetics by J&J like clean and clear, neutrogena also have carcinogenic substances in them. US FDA has granted J&J till end of 2015 to modify its components in the products.

This is started in year 2009 when the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found out that the baby bath products had multiple carcinogens majority of them being formaldehyde and 1, 4 dioxane. They have been campaigning for the last 4 years against this issue and still US FDA has not banned them.

Hats off to Indian Government for taking the right step.

Health concerns

While a single product might not be cause for concern, the reality is that babies may be exposed to several products at bath time, several times a week, in addition to other chemical exposures in the home and environment. Those small exposures add up and may contribute to later-life disease.

Formaldehyde

These carcinogens are not disclosed on the product labels as they are released from the chemical preservatives in the shampoo, the preservative namely Quaternium - 15

That means, in the container, the preservative used in shampoo slowly releases the formaldehyde and the baby is exposed to it.

Formaldehyde is an skin and eye irritant and a proved carcinogen.

1,4,dioxane

1, 4 dioxane is released as by product in the ethoxylation process, in which the cosmetic products are processed with ethylene dioxide. Ethylene dioxide was mainly used to bring down the microbial load in J&J powder

1,4 dioxane is toxic to liver and kidneys and it is also a proved carcinogen

In fact J&J manufactures products without these carcinogens in some countries but not in India.

The following table shows the approximate level of these agents

Product name

1,4 dioxane (ppm)

Formaldehyde

Johnson Baby No tears shampoo

1.1

210

Johnson Moisture care baby wash

3.9

Aveeno Baby relief creamy wash

4.6

Aveeno is also a J&J product.

What can we do to prevent exposing our babies to this toxic agents?

Select products with fewer ingredients and no synthetic dyes or fragrances and use fewer products

Safety : Check out this site for safer alternatives Skin deep a site that guides in selecting a safe product.

Check the labels so that the product does not contain the ingredients which release the toxic agents.

Spread the word, tell as many as people about the toxic effects of the products.

So I would advise "Better be safe now rather being sorry later"

Until J&J reformulate their products, let us Boycott their products.

The reformulation may take up till 2015.... so until then please be cautious...

Please share this to create awareness among parents....