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.
KATIE THOMAS
The New York Times
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