Recall: Cancer-causing baby product triggers warning - EU limit values exceeded
Created: 06/26/2022, 05:56
By: Vincent Fischer
The specialist retail chain BabyOne is recalling gauze diapers.
These exceed the permissible EU limit values for formaldehyde.
The substance can cause cancer.
Münster – shock at the BabyOne chain.
The retailer sells products and equipment for babies and toddlers online and in specialist stores.
Now the company has to announce a recall.
With muslin diapers, a product of daily use is affected.
The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety announced the recall on Friday, and the Katwarn app also triggered a warning.
Product name: | Muslin diapers 6-pack triangular cloths - pink |
Item number: | 58130720 |
Manufacturer: | Hütte & Co. GmbH textile import |
Distribution: | BabyOne Franchise and System Headquarters GmbH |
Reason for recall: | Exceeding the formaldehyde limits |
Recall: Baby diapers exceed EU limit - what is formaldehyde?
The reason for the recall is therefore an excessively high value for the substance formaldehyde.
The data collected for the diapers from Hütte & Co. is therefore above the limit values valid in the EU.
These are laid down in the so-called REACH regulation, which came into force on June 1, 2007.
Formaldehyde is a versatile substance.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, it can be used as a preservative and also serves as an adhesive in wood-based materials.
The muslin diapers from Hütte & Co. exceed the permissible formaldehyde limits.
© Babyone
It gets into the diapers through a bleaching process that is applied to the down materials.
These are mostly manufactured in the USA, where there are no regulations in this regard.
Since 2014, formaldehyde has been classified by the EU as "can cause cancer".
It attacks the mucous membranes in particular and can thus trigger cancer in the nasal cavity and nasopharynx.
Formaldehyde: Babies and young children are exposed - NGOs call for ban
When the affected materials come into contact with urine, they release the carcinogenic formaldehyde.
The substance is then transferred to the skin of the babies and toddlers.
Despite this, formaldehyde is permitted within specified limit values in the EU - even in baby products.
Non-profit organizations criticize this situation.
(By the way, stay up-to-date on consumer information and product recalls with our brand new consumer newsletter.)
The organization Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF) demands "that these chemicals should not be in products for our little ones".
According to the NGO, there are other methods of production that do not require the corresponding substances.
"Only a strict restriction of these chemicals can protect health and the environment from these dangers." (
vfi)
