This was shocking news for parents from all over the globe ? one of the most popular products from Johnson & Johnson, No More Tears shampoo for babies, comes with formaldehyde. This substance is carcinogenic and it is frequently associated with the process of embalming corpses.
However, in order to understand the negative effects and potential dangers of using such compound in baby products, people must take a close look at the proofs from scientific studies that were conducted in the last 50 years. Of course, the first step is to learn more about formaldehyde and its properties.
Formaldehyde is known for the strong smell and it is also very burnable. When it comes to the texture, this is a transparent liquid and it can often be found in products like cleaning solutions, fabrics, glue, construction materials, insulation materials and products made of paper. Formaldehyde is used in many commercial products because of the disinfectant, antibacterial and antifungal features.
So, what is the connection between formaldehyde and cancer? Are people right when they are scared? While it is true that the scientific research between this link is still inconclusive and scientists must conduct few more studies in order to come up with a conclusion, it is also true that they have found several indicators that suggest that formaldehyde is carcinogenic and can lead to cancer.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has listed formaldehyde on their list of carcinogen substances 23 years ago.
There are numerous scientific studies that confirmed that this specific substance leads to cancer in rats and humans and a few studies that suggest that people that operate in an environment where embalmers are present are at greater risk of developing cancer. If we look at this evidence, it is obvious that there is a connection between formaldehyde and development of cancer.
A scandal related to Johnson & Johnson
Even though the management of Johnson & Johnson is trying to convince the public that the quantity of formaldehyde in their products is very low and cannot affect human health (even the health of babies), the fact remains that this dangerous substance was used for years in the No More Tears baby shampoo.
This is why they have recently decided to remove formaldehyde from this shampoo and in addition, they will remove this substance from all their products too.
The removal of formaldehyde is obviously good news, but there are many people who are wondering why they didn?t do this before.
As it turns out, the shampoo and all these products provide the same effects even when formaldehyde is not present and replaced with other substances.
There is no doubt that the timing is suspicious too especially when we know that the state of California has revealed a law forcing pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies to put every substance used in their products on the label.
It is good to point out that Johnson & Johnson is not the only company that uses dangerous chemicals in their products. Luckily, there are groups that are trying to force other companies to eliminate other dangerous ingredients from their products.
The change made by Johnson & Johnson was very costly and they had to spend dozens of millions of dollars, so we will have to wait and see whether other companies have the financial capacity to make such changes.
