The Real Lesson Of Formaldehyde In Baby Shampoo

The scent of childhood to me was Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo. My mother used it on me when I was a baby, and I used it myself when I was a teenager; when I became a mother I cradled my babies’ tiny heads in my hands and slathered their scalps with the stuff. Johnson & Johnson’s hold on the marketplace was such that, for many of us, the mere smell of their products came to define clean children. And what exhausted new mother could resist the promise of “No More Tears”?

So when Johnson & Johnson made a stunning announcement that it was phasing certain chemicals out of its formula, it was shocking to learn that ever since it was brought to market in 1953, the “pure and gentle” shampoo has contained traces of formaldehyde, recently classified as a known carcinogen, and 1,4 dioxane, which, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is “reasonably anticipated” to be a human carcinogen. Naturally, as a mother, my first thought was of my sons’ bath ritual. Had I been poisoning them? Not exactly. But the company’s decision underscores a dismaying breakdown in consumer trust, not only in the products we buy and the stores that sell them, but in the government agency that we assume is properly regulating them.

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