Only 10 days ’til Christmas, y’all! Are you ready? My second guest post is from a member of my Shaklee team and she is also an Army Wife & Mommy to a sweet baby girl! Clearly, we have a lot in common!!!
Without further ado, meet Andrea!
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Hi, I’m Andrea from Maia the Bee! I’m a Kindergarten teacher – turned stay at home mom. My husband is in the US Army and we live in Germany. Our little Bee was born here and just turned a year old! It’s hard to believe how fast the first year flew by!
Thank you, Jaima, for having me as a guest blogger today! This is a topic that’s really important and I’m so happy you asked me to share!
There was an article published in Forbes on November 1st. Did you read it? It’s nothing new, but I’m still fuming about it. If you have children in your life that you care about, you NEED to hear about this.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is pushing Johnson and Johnson to reformulate their products. Johnson and Johnson recently ranked the most trusted brand in America in a Forbes survey – and yet most Americans don’t know that their baby shampoo contains not one, but TWO known carcinogens: formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.
What’s worse is these products are being sold in the US, Canada, and China, but NOT in other countries! (They are receiving a safer, formaldehyde-free shampoo.) When challenged, do you know what J and J said? In a statement released on November 1st in response to the report, J and J said they are no longer introducing new products with formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. They also said they have reduced their use of the chemical by 60 percent in the US market and 33 percent globally over the past few years.
The statement also said, “We know that some consumers are concerned about formaldehyde, which is why we offer many products without formaldehyde-releasing preservatives, and are phasing out these types of preservatives in our baby products worldwide.”
Their “natural” products also contain fragrances, which are almost always accompanied by phthalates. Phthalates help fragrances last longer and since fragrances are considered proprietary, companies do not have to disclose what is actually in them. Phthalates are suspected carcinogens and hormone disruptors that are linked to reproductive disorders. So it seems that even the “natural” choice, isn’t so natural.
I’d like to know if the people at Johnson and Johnson use their carcinogenic products on their own children. I’d be willing to bet they don’t.
And as far as their “natural” products go – they can keep them. I refuse to spend my hard earned money supporting a company that still knowingly endangers children. The most trusted brand in America is exposing our children to known cancer-causing chemicals daily…and has been for years!
When I first learned that I was pregnant, my sister-in-law helped me a lot. She had a young daughter and had already done a lot of research on toxic products and their safer alternatives. I was lucky and had a lot of information already waiting for me so I could choose products that were safe for Maia.
A year and a half later and we’re converting our house into a safe, non-toxic environment for Maia and ourselves. We use Shaklee baby products in our home. I know that Maia will never be exposed to carcinogens in her bath.
What do you think about Johnson and Johnson’s blatant disregard for the health of our children?
I think it's interesting that they're saying in the full article that they've yet to see any evidence of allergies. I personally CAN'T use J&J on my kids, not because they have problems, but because *I* do! EVERY time I've used J&J on my kids (because it's the ONLY baby wash available at our Walmarts here!) I've broken out in a rash everywhere it's touched. I use Baby Magic which involves getting my sister-in-law in CO to buy it for me, since it's only available at Babies R Us here and for about $5 a bottle instead of $2 where she is. It's ridiculous that THAT is what was causing my problem! I'm glad that I've never been able to use it! We have so many things to worry about exposing our kids to, our baby shampoo shouldn't be one of them!