Baby, What's in Your Shampoo?

For many babies and toddlers, bath time is play time--spent splashing around and blowing soap bubbles. As a parent, you expect the children's bath products you use to be tear-free and gentle on tender skin. But did you ever stop to wonder what's in those products that are marketed as fun, gentle, and safe?

The last thing you'd expect in your child's bath is known carcinogens.

Yet a recent study commissioned by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics found two worrisome chemicals in dozens of products:

• Formaldehyde was present in 23 of 28 children's bath products tested. Concentrations ranged from 54 to 610 parts per million.
• 1,4-dioxane was found in 32 of 48 products tested. Levels of this chemical went as high as 35 parts per million.

Scientists have linked both of these chemicals to cancer.

Banned in Europe, 1,4-dioxane currently isn't regulated in the United States--even though the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission calls even tiny amounts of 1,4-dioxane "cause for concern."

Formaldehyde makes its way into products because it kills bacteria (that's why it's in embalming fluid). Yet it also can cause allergies; eye, nose, and throat irritation; skin rashes; respiratory problems; asthma; headaches; and even cancer. In the air, as little as 0.1 part per million can irritate eyes and trigger asthma or other breathing problems. Formaldehyde shows up in everything from paint and building materials to particle-board and wooden furniture to paper products--you definitely don't need it in your baby's shampoo.

The Personal Care Products Council, an industry association, calls the study's findings "false" and claims that any traces of these chemicals in children's bath products are "well below established regulatory limits or safety thresholds." (You can read the Council's response to the study here.)

But you're probably wondering the same thing many other parents are wondering: Why are these chemicals in children's products at all? And how can you make sure that your baby's shampoo is safe?

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics lists companies that have signed its Compact for Safe Cosmetics, pledging to use safe ingredients and provide the public with information about what goes into products, so you know what you're buying. You can search its database of companies that have signed the compact here.

Bath time should be for splashing, laughing, and rubber duckies--not hazardous chemicals.