Toxic bubble bath: Johnson & Johnson responds

A few days ago, I wrote a post entitled "Another headache for Johnson & Johnson" about the presence of known carcinogens like formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane in children's baby bath products and the media campaign that green mom bloggers were launching to get Johnson & Johnson to recognize their concerns.  I contacted Johnson & Johnson directly as I was writing my initial post to get their comments and insight and find out how we could all work together to achieve what we both want ... safer products for children.  

Dear Jenn:

Thank you for contacting the Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. Information Center.  It is always important to hear from our consumers, and we appreciate the time you have taken to contact us.

For more than 100 years, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. has been providing parents with safe and effective products for their babies and young children. We value the trust that parents place in us, and we continually strive to maintain that trust by using high-quality standards to test and evaluate every ingredient that goes into our products.

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 FDA and other government agencies around the world consider these trace levels safe, and all our products meet or exceed the regulatory requirements in every country where they are sold. Experts such as MDs, toxicologists and clinical scientists regularly review the safety data for all ingredients used in our products. In addition, we test our final baby product formulations for safety. Once our products are in the marketplace, we continually monitor consumer experiences and review evolving scientific data.

We are disappointed that the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has inaccurately characterized the safety of our products, misrepresented the overwhelming consensus of scientists and government agencies that review the safety of ingredients, and unnecessarily alarmed parents.

We want to reassure parents that JOHNSON'S Baby Shampoo and all our baby and kids products are safe, gentle and mild products that they can trust and use with confidence.

Again, thank you for your interest in our company.  Should you have any comments or questions in the future, please contact us via our website or by calling our toll-free number,  1-888-638-5242.  Our specialists are available Monday through Friday between 8 AM and 5 PM EST and will be happy to assist you.