Other retailers in the city followed suit.

The Maximark supermarket chain said it would stop selling Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo products until the product distributor responds to the safety concerns.

Duong Thi Quynh Trang, public relations manager of the Big C supermarket chain, said although Johnson & Johnson has confirmed the safety of their products, her company felt it was necessary to remove the products for now.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a consumer safety watchdog group, last Friday reported that dozens of popular children’s bath products marketed in the US contain two cancer-causing chemicals, 1.4-dioxane and formaldehyde.

Twenty-three of the 28 products tested for formaldehyde were shown to contain the chemical, and 17 of those products contained both formaldehyde and 1.4-dioxane.

Among those were the highly popular Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, L’Oreal Kids Extra Gentle 2-in-1 shampoo and Pampers Kandoo foaming hand soap, which contained enough formaldehyde to trigger a skin reaction in highly sensitive people, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said in its report.

Of these brands, Johnson & Johnson is the only one officially distributed in Vietnam by AAA Pharmaceuticals Company, and it is one of the most popular brands in the country. L’Oreal

Vietnam has not sold any products for kids yet, local reports say.

Several supermarkets in Hanoi like Thai Ha, Fivimart and Intermex Tuesday said they were still selling Johnson & Johnson products as usual.

But if the authorities conclude that these products have cancer-causing substances, they will be pulled off shelves and withdrawn from the market, these supermarkets said.

At retail shops on Lan Ong Street in Hanoi, sales of other baby bath products have reportedly increased as many consumers shied away from Johnson & Johnson.

In a statement released Monday, Johnson & Johnson said the trace levels of certain compounds found by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics can result from processes that make their products gentle for babies and safe from bacteria growth.

“The FDA [the US Food and Drug Administration] and other government agencies around the world consider these trace levels safe, and all our products meet or exceed the regulatory requirements in every country where they are sold,” the company said in the statement.

Vo Thi Bach Suong, a dermatologist teaching at HCMC University of Medicine and Pharmacy, confirmed that producers of bath products often use formaldehyde as a preservative to prevent bacteria growth.

Excessive contact with formaldehyde can cause skin irritation, Suong said, adding that she does not know much about 1.4- dioxane.

Thanh, a consumer in HCMC’s Go Vap District, told Thanh Nien Tuesday she was really worried because her two children have used Johnson & Johnson products for a long time.

Nguyen Thu Hai in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan District said she has become suspicious of all bath products after the news about Johnson & Johnson products broke.

“All bath products are made from chemicals. If one product may be tainted, how can I know that others are still safe to use?”

Head of the Health Ministry’s Drug Administration, Truong Quoc Cuong, said Tuesday that after learning about the test results, cosmetics producers and distributors nationwide have been asked to report on the content of their products.

Preliminary findings showed that the levels of formaldehyde in all cosmetics products legally sold in Vietnam right now are below regulatory limits, Cuong said.

He said the Drug Administration would continue testing cosmetic products in the country and release the results soon.

Used for embalming corpses and, in the US, as glue in chipboard, formaldehyde is a by-product of a preservative added to the products to prevent bacteria growth and extend their shelf-life. Meanwhile, the 1.4- dioxane chemical is used as a foaming agent in some products.

According to the US National Cancer Institute, studies of workers exposed to formaldehyde have linked the chemical to cancers of the nasal sinuses, nasopharynx, brain and possibly leukemia.

The two chemicals are “completely unregulated” in the US, while 1.4- dioxane is banned in Europe and formaldehyde is restricted, said Stacy Malkan of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has said that even trace amounts of 1.4-dioxane give “cause for concern,” while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Health and Human Services have both identified dioxane as causing cancer in animals and as a “probable human carcinogen.”

The Personal Care Products Council, however, dismissed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ finding as “patently false” and accused the group of “preying upon parental worries.”

Cosmetic products in Vietnam have been monitored under the same regulations shared by other countries in Southeast Asia since 2003.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff

 (With input from AFP)