Johnson & Johnson to Remove
Formaldehyde From Products
By KATIE THOMAS
Johnson & Johnson, which makes a range of personal
care products like baby shampoo, acne cream and antiwrinkle lotion, announced
plans Wednesday to remove a host of potentially harmful chemicals, like
formaldehyde, from its line of consumer products by the end of 2015, becoming
the first major consumer products company to make such a widespread commitment.
The company had already pledged to
remove certain chemicals from its baby products by 2013, but the latest
announcement extended the program to its adult products, including well-known
drugstore brands like Neutrogena, Aveeno and Clean & Clear.
“There’s a very lively public discussion going on
about the safety of ingredients in personal care products,” said Susan
Nettesheim, vice president for product stewardship and toxicology for the
company’s consumer health brands. “It was really important that we had a voice
in that.”
Environmental and consumer groups have for years
pressured Johnson & Johnson and its competitors to remove questionable
ingredients from their products.
“We’ve never really seen a major personal care product
company take the kind of move that they’re taking with this,” said Kenneth A.
Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, one of the organizations
that has been negotiating with company officials to change their practices. “Not
really even anything in the ballpark.”
In 2009, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition
that includes the Environmental Working Group, analyzed the contents of dozens
of products for children and found that many items contained two substances of
particular concern: formaldehyde and 1,4 dioxane. Consumers won’t find either
listed on the back of their shampoos or lotions because neither is technically
an ingredient.
Formaldehyde, which last year was identified by
government scientists as a carcinogen, is released over time by common
preservatives like quaternium-15 and DMDM hydantoin, which do appear on labels.
And 1,4 dioxane, which has been linked to cancer in animal studies, is created
during a process commonly used to make other ingredients gentler on the skin.
The company also plans to phase out other ingredients
that have been linked to health problems, including phthalates, which have a
variety of uses, like lessening the stiffening effects of hair spray; several
fragrance ingredients; and triclosan, an antibacterial substance used in soaps.
Johnson & Johnson will remove all parabens, a type of preservative, from
baby products and some other parabens from its adult products.
Ms. Nettesheim said the project was a major
undertaking and would require extensive spending on research and development to
find suitable alternatives to the ingredients, most of which are common in the
industry. She said new suppliers needed to be located and vetted, and testing
was needed to ensure the replacements were also safe. The company declined to
say how much the project would cost.
Then there’s the delicate task of tinkering with
products that have been popular for generations. The company’s baby shampoo, for
example, has been marketed for more than 50 years.
“Consumer acceptance is really important,” Ms.
Nettesheim said. “It really doesn’t help you if you reformulate products and
people don’t like it.”
Lisa Archer, director of the Campaign for Safe
Cosmetics, said her group would continue to press other cosmetics and
consumer-goods companies to follow Johnson & Johnson, including the Estée
Lauder Companies, Procter & Gamble, Avon and L’Oreal.
In 2010, Procter & Gamble reformulated its Herbal
Essences shampoos to limit the amount of 1,4 dioxane to only trace amounts,
and its Tide laundry detergent came
under scrutiny from some of the same groups because it contains small
amounts of the chemical.
Tim Long, a senior science fellow at P.& G., said
the company communicates openly with consumers about the ingredients it uses.
All of its products meet regulatory requirements, he said.
In a statement, Estée Lauder said it adheres to
stringent safety standards for all of its products and complies with regulations
in every country in which its products are sold.
Johnson & Johnson’s decision requires the company
to navigate a public relations tightrope, by portraying itself as willing to
make extensive changes while simultaneously reassuring consumers that its
existing products are safe. The endeavor’s success is even more critical because
the company has experienced serious
recalls and quality lapses in recent years. On a new Web site that explains
the changes to consumers, the company calls it “moving beyond safety.”
“Even though as a scientist I will sit here and tell
you these things are perfectly safe,” consumers are worried about reports that
call her conclusions into question, Ms. Nettesheim said. “I understand that and
we can’t ignore that.”
Mr. Cook, of the Environmental Working Group,
disagrees about the safety of the chemicals. But he agreed that there is avid
interest in the ingredients on a shampoo bottle, noting that his group maintains
a product
safety database that has received hundreds of millions of page views. “This
is them placing a bet that if they get out in front of this consumer interest,
they’re going to win the marketplace,” he said.
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