Procter & Gamble, Largest Personal Care Company, Won’t Remove Cancer-Causing Ingredients from Products

Procter & Gamble – the company that makes everything from Luvs diapers to Tide, Bounty paper towels, and Nyquil, and also the biggest personal care product distributor in the U.S. – is attempting to ride the wave of breast cancer awareness as a way to tout its ‘interest in women’s health.’ But what everyone should know is that this company doesn’t care about your health; in fact, the company’s products are loaded with carcinogenic ingredients known to cause cancer.

From baby care, to feminine care, personal care products and home care – P&G is infecting your household with carcinogenic ingredients, and though they have been asked repeatedly by consumer activist groups to remove these toxins from its products, the company won’t listen.

While it’s true that P&G has removed some of the toxic ingredients in its products, there is a long way to go. Janet Nudelman, program director at the Breast Cancer Fund and co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics once congratulated the company for taking at least a baby step in the right direction:

“The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics congratulates P&G for taking bold and globally-significant action to protect the health of its 4.8 billion consumers by eliminating two dangerous toxic chemicals—triclosan and DEP—from all its products.”

It’s a step in the right direction to remove a couple toxic ingredients, but I’m not sure a huge congratulations is in order. Still, major P&G brands such as Tide, Pantene, Herbal Essence, and CoverGirl are packed with carcinogens and sold to customers without so much as a warning on the label.

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), recognized as a carcinogen by the state of California and the Environmental Working Group, is just one chemical lurking in P&G’s products. The U.S. National Institutes of Health reports that BHA is “reasonably anticipated” to be a human carcinogen. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has found more than 65 carcinogenic chemicals in P&G’s lotions, shampoos, hair dyes, and cosmetics – many of them completely banned in other countries.

P&G’s $100,000 donation to ‘fight breast cancer’ is nothing more than a marketing gimmick to keep you thinking that the company actually cares about your health. This is a multi-billion dollar company. That would be like you or I giving a penny to defeat a major disease.

P&G’s ‘product safety’ page on their website has a big bold blue statement – A FOUNDATION OF INTEGRITY. If only that were true.

If you want to voice your displeasure with this corporate behemoth that is poisoning you and your family while pretending to support the eradication of cancer, you can sign a petition here.