Safe Baby Products? Comments from a Massage Therapist

Live Holistically is a multi-author site.
This post was written by: Susan Blue

Massage therapists can be a reference point for clients. They read a newspaper or magazine article and ask what we know or what we think about what they have read. For them, we are living the alternative, holistic, life style.

We use aromatherapy oils, suggest anything from changes in diets, to less strenuous exercise, and often have magazines and books about how to live holistically.

One of my clients passed on a blog site from a mother who learned there was a carcinogenic chemical used in her baby’s shampoo and body wash. It was from a leading manufacturer. Mom is mad. She is using her blog site to vent, but more important, to alert others.

“Apparently “a hidden cancer-causing petrochemical has been found in dozens of children’s bath products and adults’ personal care products, in some cases at levels that are more than twice the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s lenient recommended maximum”. (source).

Carcinogens. They are additives that keep make our body care products, fresh, not separate or go bad while we use them. We are told they are necessary. We are told these additives make our lives better and safer.

Because with out them, we would have body care products, cosmetics or food spoiling on the shelf or going bad before it was used up. We would become ill from the germs, bacterias, viruses or fungus that would grow unless these chemical agents were there to stop them.

We are told that the minutes amount of carcinogens will not cause us ill effects. And like Mad Mom found, what we are told is not always true. The testing of products and the guidelines on what may be considered safe can be two different things.

What can we do to protect ourselves?

• Go organic.
• Check your labels.
• On rule of thumb that I used when raising my boys was no more than three “not good for you” or “poisons” a day. Sugar was a not good for you and counted as one. If the cereal they wanted to eat had more than two preservatives we would not by it. They ate Grape Nuts and Bran Flakes cold cereals for years. Children now have a much wider choice.
• Find out what are safe chemical components in your body care products. Many health food stores have a list of chemical / carcinogenic components that are commonly used by manufacturers.
• Pick up the articles at your Health Food stores. There is a wealth of information that is available for free. It will give insight and some other ways to live holistically.
• Google your subject in question.
• Join a holistic chat group.