Gillibrand Talks About Her Shock On What Is ‘Really’ In Baby Products

May 1, 2009 by tanya
Filed under: Baby Health, News, Product News

Politician and mother of two, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has been talking about her “Safe Baby Products Act”.

She has asked the Food and Drug Administration to carry out further investigations on the chemicals used in children’s toiletries, so that products can be regulated better.

Last month, a report was published by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics which highlighted concerns on the number of popular baby bath products which contained “probable human carcinogens” such as 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde. They are often used to soften certain harsh chemicals in toiletries.

Shockingly, these contaminates do not appear on product labels as they are often byproducts or due to chemical breakdowns over time in the products.

Gillibrand said at a press conference: “As a mother, and as a parent, when I read the list of these products, I was highly concerned because many of the products on this list were literally in my bathroom, and I’ve been using them,”

“I don’t know why this has not been addressed before, but it’s very worrisome,” Gillibrand says. “When I get a baby product, I assume it’s safe. … If there’s no testing going on, and we’re just trusting the manufacturer, I don’t think that’s enough.”

For parents who are concerned about the baby bath products they are using, they should read the ingredient labels and look out for:

Peg-100 stearate
sodium laureth sulfate
polyethylene
ceteareth-20
Quaternium-15
DMDM hydantoin
imidazolidinyl urea
diazolidinyl urea
sodium hydroxymethylglycinate.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics independently carried out test on 48 products for 1,4-dioxane, and found that 32 contained levels which were of concern.

When the products were tested for the preservative formaldehyde, 23 were found to be at a very high level.

Products that contained both included: