Bath & BodyWorks 3-in-1 Bubble Bath, Body Wash and Shampoo in Cool Kiwi Berry is totally aimed at kids: it's brightly colored, heavily scented, multi-tasking (3-in-1!) and has a cute little reindeer with a cheery scarf on the front of the package. The chemical ingredients aren't so kid-friendly, including sodium laureth sulfate, propylene glycol, and PEG-12 and PEG-150, which are often contaminated with an unlabeled cancer-causing impurity called 1,4-dioxane.
Also on the back of the bottle is a warning: "CAUTION: Use only as directed. Excessive use or prolonged exposure may cause irritation to skin and urinary tract... Keep out of reach of children except under adult supervision."
Kids' soap doesn't need to contain ingredients that may damage the skin and urinary tract in the short term, or ingredients that are linked to other serious health effects in the longer term, like early puberty (which is a risk factor for breast cancer) or reproductive harm. Holiday gifts like those sold at Bath & BodyWorks add to the multiple chemical exposures we face every day from sources like other cosmetics, food and furniture – and there's nothing cheery about that.
Currently, the government doesn't regulate the cosmetics industry, so it's perfectly legal for soap to contain carcinogenic contaminants. We’re working to change this, but in the meantime, we're calling on Bath & BodyWorks to voluntarily clean up its products.
If you need something for your kids, let me know! I can make you everything you need without the danger!
Sue
