Subscribe with Feedburner

SafeMama Sponsors

Fellow Safe Mamas

Grab Our Badge!

Missions We Support

GoGoShopper.com: Daily Coupons

PR Web Coupons

Know you are protected with great local car insurance

baby shower decorations

Filed Under Articles, paraben free, Phthalates Info, Skin Care

lavender I recently started a new cheat sheet for baby product lines that are paraben and phthalate free. Turns out there is more to the story and as I am finding (and my fellow mom friends are finding) there is more to think about when buying products for your kids. Melissa of Itsabelly pointed me to a post her business partner Jennifer wrote up about phthalates in skin care. The discussion turned to questions about “unscented products” and what she dug up was interesting and scary. An excerpt from the comments section of her post:

Bottom Line: Phthalates may exist in “unscented products.” Phthalates used in certain circumstances are required to be listed, but not when used in regards to a fragrance. So, you cannot count on the label to give you all the ingredients. And, just because a product is labeled as “natural,” does not mean it is actually made with natural ingredients. There is no regulation of the labeling of “natural.” It is best to stick with companies that disclose all ingredients and have signed the compact to never use hazardous ingredients.

I encourage you to read the whole discussion and Jennifer’s findings “Recent Study Finds Baby Shampoo May Expose Children to Phthalates“.

Posted by: SafeMama Kathy on February 25, 2008

Search Technorati for links to this post

Comments

4 Responses to “More Phthalate Talk: Unscented Doesn’t Mean Safe”

Jennifer Lo Prete on February 25th, 2008 9:07 pm

Kathy, Thanks for posting the information concerning phthalates and “unscented” fragrances. Change will be made as more consumers become aware of these label loopholes. Thank you, Jennifer
Amanda@EWG on February 26th, 2008 2:29 pm

It’s ridiculous, isn’t it? “Unscented” is one of those funny euphemistic words that in some cases means they’ve used fragrance to neutralize the smell. From what we’ve found, products labeled “fragrance free” are generally actually free of fragrance (fancy that), but a good general rule is to look for “fragrance” on the label and make your purchasing decisions based on that.
soapchix on February 27th, 2008 6:42 am

This. is. so. irksome.

But, like Amanda said, labels (on the back, anyway!) don’t lie.

I rarely read the front packaging anymore, I just flip to the back and decipher the list of ingredients.
Noel on February 29th, 2008 4:21 am

Why is it so hard to not poison oursleves and our children ya know? The list of things I feel safe with just gets smaller and smaller. It’s like there’s a conspiracy Kathy. If I had known when my son was born what I know now. Boy oh boy.