{"id":811,"date":"2010-11-02T11:57:08","date_gmt":"2010-11-02T11:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/?p=811"},"modified":"2016-02-04T23:31:36","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T06:31:36","slug":"bubble-bubble-toil-and-trouble-how-moms-create-their-own-tipping-point-for-change-guest-post-by-mary-clare-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/2010\/11\/02\/bubble-bubble-toil-and-trouble-how-moms-create-their-own-tipping-point-for-change-guest-post-by-mary-clare-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble: How Moms Create Their Own Tipping Point For Change, by Mary Clare Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/inwomenwetrust.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83452bd6269e201156fef2b50970b-pi\" class=\"broken_link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/inwomenwetrust.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83452bd6269e201156fef2b50970b-250wi\" alt=\"Ducks\" \/><\/a>When you start\u00a0asking moms to promote products that other moms and organizations find troubling and maybe even toxic, you can expect a backlash of conversation.<\/p>\n<p>That’s what happened when Johnson and Johnson\u00a0launched a contest called\u00a0<em>Big Bubblin Stars<\/em>, in which the winning video of kids having fun in a bubble bath garners $10,000 in prize money.\u00a0\u00a0You didn’t have to\u00a0buy the J&J products and yet, wouldn’t you?\u00a0It’s $10,000 after all, and it seems fun and safe enough. But is it?<\/p>\n<p>The troubling part for many moms was that the contest promoted the use of products that contained dubious chemistry, shown over time to build up in the little bodies soaking in it.\u00a0The\u00a0launch of <em>Bubblin Stars<\/em> also coincided with a report from the\u00a0Safe Cosmetics Organization titled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.safecosmetics.org\/article.php?id=414\" class=\"broken_link\">No More Toxic Tub<\/a>.\u00a0In the bubble bath case, the moms were specifically questioning\u00a0the use of products containing 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde, included in some J&J products.<\/p>\n<p>What’s the big deal? Well, according to areport on a site focused on reducing breast cancer,\u00a0it’s not just in J&J products. As stated in the report:<\/p>\n<p><em>Laboratory tests released today revealed the presence of 1,4-Dioxane in products such as Hello Kitty Bubble Bath, Huggies Baby Wash, Johnson\u2019s Baby Wash, Scooby-Doo Bubble Bath and Sesame Street Bubble Bath. The tests also found the carcinogen in Clairol Herbal Essences shampoo, Olay Complete Body Wash and many other personal care products.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>1,4-Dioxane is a petroleum-derived contaminant considered a\u00a0<strong>probable human carcinogen<\/strong> by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a clear-cut animal carcinogen by the National Toxicology Program.\u00a0<strong>It is also on California\u2019s Proposition 65 list of chemicals known or suspected by the state to cause cancer or birth defects.<\/strong> Because it is a contaminant produced during manufacturing, the FDA does not require it to be listed as an ingredient on product labels. (Bold type has been added for emphasis.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>So what did these concerned moms do?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/inwomenwetrust.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83452bd6269e201156fef4698970b-pi\" class=\"broken_link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/inwomenwetrust.typepad.com\/.a\/6a00d83452bd6269e201156fef4698970b-120wi\" alt=\"Green mom carnival\" \/><\/a>Within 2 days,\u00a0they mobilized, conducted research, wrote blogs and posted their own\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=X70h2h7VSik\" rel=\"wp-prettyPhoto[811]\">spoof<\/a> of the contest. Sommer Poquette also hosted and posted a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenandcleanmom.org\/i-use-toxic-bath-products-on-my-kids\/\">mini carnival of concerns<\/a> on her Clean and Green Mom blog.<\/p>\n<p>Then\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.seejanedo.com\/\">See Jane Do<\/a>, an online radio program, got wind of it and asked Lynn Miller, Lisa Frack and Jennifer Taggert to join\u00a0a discussion\u00a0along with another prominent mom activist, Joan Blades of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.momsrising.org\/\">Mom’s Rising.<\/a> Lynn Miller is a marketer and founder of\u00a0the blog\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.organicmania.com\/\">Organic Mania<\/a> and the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/greenmoms\" class=\"broken_link\">Green Moms Carnival.<\/a> Lisa Frack is the\u00a0online parent coordinator for the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ewg.org\/\">Environmental Working Group<\/a> and Jennifer Taggert is a lawyer, engineer and author of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesmartmama.com\/\" class=\"broken_link\">The Smart Mama<\/a>, a blog promoting a toxic-free life for kids.\u00a0She also\u00a0wrote the\u00a0<em>Smart Mama’s Green Guide: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Child’s Toxic Chemical Exposure. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Green Mom Carnival crowd\u00a0isn’t the only concerned group, in a newsletter the same week the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ecomomalliance.org\/\">Eco Mom Alliance<\/a> announced their partnership with the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/rs6.net\/tn.jsp?et=1102523002589&s=1775&e=001baczP5l_owd4lYCDk02ePE6ThdVJ0n8k7104lObYl7MVK5qDN8eF--GDeTLMC-jYYp7Yhpm8RFJK148jLQ2xZ1FcLcj7DH5JcuoespHz21KYan8IB3sFtwFKl55z77L4\">Seventh Generation<\/a> and\u00a0EWG\u00a0to\u00a0provide product samples and education on how to reduce your exposure to\u00a0bad chemistry.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, the issue is long-term build up, not one-off exposure. Jennifer Taggert recapped it well on a follow up post\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesmartmama.com\/bg\/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=224&Itemid=23\" class=\"broken_link\">here.<\/a> She was justifiably irked that moms are looked upon as crazy for caring. She also noted in a background research report she prepared for the Green Carnival group that the EU has ceased allowing dioxane to be present in consumer goods.<\/p>\n<p>If the EU has disallowed it, what is happening in the US? We asked the two popular potions standards to comment.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ecologo.org\/\">Eco Logo<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenseal.org\/\">Green Seal<\/a>, which are both coming out with new personal care standards\u00a0this spring. Cheryl Baldwin,<span style=\"font-family: Arial; color: #0000ff;\"> PhD and VP of Science and Standards at Green Seal said,\u00a0<em>“We have a new standard that will be released soon (any day now)\u00a0that covers soaps, cleansers, shampoos, and other rinse-off products (GS-44).\u00a0 It prohibits the use of the\u00a0components that are the sources of the chemicals found by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (e.g 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde). <\/em>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mts.sustainableproducts.com\/\" class=\"broken_link\">SMaRT<\/a>Standard also won’t certify any product that has the Stockholm\u00a0“Dirty Dozen”chemicals, which include dioxanes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>After first being ignored or sent to underlings with no knowledge of the subject, Johnson and Johnson provided a statement to Jenn Savedge\u00a0of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegreenparent.com\/\">the Green Parent.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>“The trace levels<\/em> <em>of certain compounds found by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics can result from processes that make our products gentle for babies and safe from bacteria growth. The FDA 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. Experts such as MDs, toxicologists and clinical scientists regularly review the safety data for all ingredients used in our products. In addition, we test our final baby product formulations for safety. Once our products are in the marketplace, we continually monitor consumer experiences and review evolving scientific data.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The mom’s aren’t buying it – literally. If they have a choice (and they do) they’re going to buy products that are erring on the side of\u00a0NO 1,4-dioxane no matter how “trace” it is and they are encouraging others to do the same.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">From Sommer Poquette’s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenandcleanmom.org\/i-use-toxic-bath-products-on-my-kids\/\">Carnival of Concerned Moms<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<p>1.\u00a0Sign the Declaration and tell your friends to sign the declaration to get the Kids Safe Chemical Act passed.<\/p>\n<p>2.\u00a0Write your legislator, as the Mindful Momma suggests.<\/p>\n<p>3. Use safer products by consulting the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cosmeticsdatabase.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Skin Deep Data Base<\/a> and tell companies, such as\u00a0Johnson and Johnson and the\u00a0others listed on the report,\u00a0what you want as consumers.\u00a0 Check out the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/safemama.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Safe Mama<\/a> and her hundreds of reviews and cheat sheets for safe baby care products and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/healthychild.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Healthy Child, Healthy World<\/a> for suggestions and tips.<\/p>\n<p>4. Promote this post anyway you can to get the word out there. #NoToxins\u00a0to follow the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/greenmoms\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\">Green Mom\u2019s Carnival on Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>5. Send any bottles back to the manufacturer that aren\u2019t used or are half used. Stop using them and demand for safer ingredients and full disclosure!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Lessons learned for companies selling personal care products:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">1. Don’t ignore women bloggers who are concerned enough to\u00a0call. It really ticks them off.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">2. The\u00a0standards\u00a0for what is safe or not have changed, update your product line to get in line with world expectations. (If Detroit can drop Hummers, you can drop dioxanes.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">3. Mommy blogger’s\u00a0all know one another. If you don’t think they are comparing notes with each other – think again!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This post originally appeared on the blog <a href=\"http:\/\/inwomenwetrust.typepad.com\/in_women_we_trust\/2009\/03\/bubble-bubble-toil-and-trouble.html\" class=\"broken_link\">In Women We Trust<\/a>. You can contact the author at maryclarehunt@gmail.com<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you start\u00a0asking moms to promote products that other moms and organizations find troubling and maybe even toxic, you can expect a backlash of conversation. That’s what happened when Johnson and Johnson\u00a0launched a contest called\u00a0Big Bubblin Stars, in which the winning video of kids having fun in a bubble bath garners $10,000 in prize money.\u00a0\u00a0You didn’t have to\u00a0buy the J&J products and yet, wouldn’t you?\u00a0It’s $10,000 after all, and it seems fun and safe enough. But is it? The troubling part for many moms was that the contest promoted the use of products that contained dubious chemistry, shown over time to build up in the little bodies soaking in it.\u00a0The\u00a0launch of Bubblin Stars also coincided with a report from the\u00a0Safe Cosmetics Organization titled No More Toxic Tub.\u00a0In the bubble bath case, the moms were specifically questioning\u00a0the use of products containing 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde, included in some J&J products. What’s the big deal? Well, according to areport on a site focused on reducing breast cancer,\u00a0it’s not just in J&J products. As stated in the report: Laboratory tests released today revealed the presence of 1,4-Dioxane in products such as Hello Kitty Bubble Bath, Huggies Baby Wash, Johnson\u2019s Baby Wash, Scooby-Doo Bubble Bath […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1344,1348,1],"tags":[349,353,134,45,354,352,17,90,18],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-leadership","category-uncategorized","tag-education","tag-environmental-sustainability","tag-green-business-women","tag-green-home","tag-healthy-children","tag-johnson-and-johnson","tag-moms-going-green","tag-organic","tag-parents-and-green"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6357,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions\/6357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/womenofgreen.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}