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Chemical traces found in child bath items

Posted on: Thursday, 12 March 2009, 23:35 CDT

Dozens of top-selling children's bath products are contaminated with trace amounts of cancer-causing chemicals, a U.S. health advocacy group says.

Officials of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics says it commissioned an independent laboratory to test 48 children's bath products that documented the widespread presence of both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.

The chemicals were not disclosed on product labels because contaminants are exempt from labeling laws, officials of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said.

The findings also include:

-- 61 percent of products contained both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.

-- 82 percent contained formaldehyde at levels from 54 parts per million to 610 ppm.

-- 67 percent contained 1,4-dioxane at levels from 0.27 ppm to 35 ppm.

No regulatory standards limit formaldehyde or 1,4-dioxane in personal care products sold in the United States, but formaldehyde is banned from personal care products in Japan and Sweden, while the European Union bans 1,4-dioxane from personal care products and has recalled products found to contain the chemical, campaign officials said.

Johnson & Johnson was asked to comment on findings.

The trace levels of certain compounds found by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics can result from processes that make our products gentle for babies and safe from bacteria growth, the company said in a statement to WTEN-TV in Albany, N.Y.

The Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies around the world consider these trace levels safe.

Source: United Press International

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