OK, so the little ones get a bath and look really good. They even smell clean, and then when the house is quiet I read the morning paper. Are you kidding? Baby shampoo and “baby soaps” are filled with all kinds of carcinogens. Formaldehyde and something called 1,4 dioxane, whatever that is, on their bodies! Those words alone should scare us. What is going on here?

My being outraged is hardly sufficient. How did this ever happen? If I switch to so-called organic soaps and shampoos, are they safer? Who says? What harm have I already caused in the 3 years they have been bathed in this formaldehyde stuff? How many millions of young children have been cleansed so?

Who is at fault? I do not believe one company gets all the blame. Since these are not considered ingredients but contaminants, they do not have to be listed. How crazy is that notion! There are no regulations that stop this. Turns out I can’t even get angry at the FDA; they don’t have the authority to regulate cosmetics at the ingredient stage.

Hello, Congress, can you hear me? This affects everyone, all your constituents. Maybe the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families will get the message to hold hearings. Taking these ingredients out of products within a year is not an answer.

Someone’s been asleep at the switch. Why? Parents who are trying to do the right thing are now feeling guilt in another way. What’s going to be done about this? NOW.

How come we find out about these travesties years after products have been on shelves? Is no one paying attention or must we all travel to the drug store and the grocery store with a dictionary of health words? Turns out that logic doesn’t even work. Not an ingredient; not a listing. Chemicals get a free pass. They are not regulated in the same way.

Let’s get to work and make our products safe.

Now.