Dish-Houston

By DISH Contributer: Chelle Northcutt

“I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!”

That was my very intense reaction when my friend and business partner Rachael told me about the story she saw on the local ABC affiliate the other day.  The story was all about the toxics in baby products.  Yes, that includes the lavender scented baby wash we all love to use on the soft little heads of our newborn babies.

I haven’t been paying very close attention to toxic products in our household for very long.  Having children and a husband with a horrible genetic illness has changed my outlook, so I’ve recently started doing some research and the information is astounding. 

Turns out, ALL of that stuff we spend out hard earned money on so we can give our babies the very best, may actually be the very worst.

I searched the tv station’s website and couldn’t find the actual story, however, I found a similar one from February 2008 from the Associated Press and it was an entire 2 page article!  Turns out, a study in the February issue of the Journal of Pediatrics shows elevated levels of phthalates in the urine of babies who’d been recently shampooed, powdered or lotioned with baby products.  In case you’re not familiar with phthalates, they are chemicals used to stabilize fragrances and make plastics flexible. 

Mind you, phthalates aren’t required to be on product labels.  In all fairness, Stephanie Kwisnek of the Food and Drug Administration says they have “no compelling evidence that phthalates pose a safety risk when used in cosmetics.  Should new data emerge, we will inform the public as well as the industry.”

Of course, that’s the same FDA that is now recalling all kinds of drugs that they now say are harmful, after approving them for public consumption.  But now is not the time for my soapbox.

With all this information in hand I was more than a little curious.  So I pulled my own baby shampoo off the shelf.  One of the first ingredients is something I had never heard of before.  It’s called Quaternium-15.  Qua-what??

Quaternium-15.  If you’ve never heard of it, you’re not alone.  Most of us haven’t until we start looking more closely at the ingredients in most of our products.  So I looked it up on the internet.

According to Wikepedia, Quaternium-15 is “used as a preservative in many cosmetics and industrial substances.  It acts as a formaldehyde releaser.”

Hmm.  That doesn’t exactly sound healthy or safe.  But that’s not the end of the definition.

“It can cause contact dermatitis, a symptom of an allergic reaction, especially in those with sensitive skin, on an infant’s skin, or on sensitive areas such as the genitals.”

Greeeeat.

But like the little researcher I am, I continued on.

Search: “Side effects of Quaternium-15”

Pages of information came up.  But the most interesting by far was on About.com: Allergies.  Found lots of info there!  And apparently, baby products aren’t the only products with Quaternium-15 in it.  

The article states, “Mascara also can cause dermatitis, either from formaldehyde/quaternium-15 or from the nickel present in the applicator device.” (Eyelid Rash: Causes of Eyelid Rashes and Allergies, by Daniel More, MD, About.com Guide, Updated January 20, 2010)

But that’s not all.  My search also brought up the book, “Side Effects of Drugs Annual 27” by J.K Aronson, (2004, Elsevier B.V.).  It states that over a 10-year study, there were “several cases of contact allergy to formaldehyde…”  In fact, in the same paragraph, it states the frequency of positive reactions has increased from 0.7% to 3.5% from 1991-2000.

Now, I’m not going to pretend the scientific terms make a whole lot of sense to me.  But I think it’s pretty clear that this stuff isn’t exactly the safest product to be using.  So what do we do? 

Back to that Associated Press report.

They quoted a 2005 CDC report that states, “Although several studies in people have explored possible associations with developmental and reproductive outcomes,…more research is needed.”

Well, while you do the research, CDC, I’ll go find some safer alternatives to use now.  I’m willing to bet most of them can only be found on the internet.  But I’ll take my chances.

In the meantime, thank you, local ABC affiliate, for bringing the information to us! Even if it just made me do more research. 

Now I’m off to shop on the internet…….