Baby diapers: significant improvement in quality, but still room for improvement - France 24

Paris (AFP)

The levels of chemicals contained in some disposable diapers for babies have decreased significantly since a warning in January 2019 but "additional improvements are however expected for three references", notes Thursday the Repression of fraud.

"No exceedance of health thresholds has been noted," says the DGCCRF, which depends on Bercy, in a press release confirming information from the Parisian. "These findings confirm the marked improvement in the quality of the references present on the market".

"No allergens or pesticide residues have been found. Reductions in dioxin and furan, PCB-DL (chlorinated compounds) and PAH contamination have also been noted, making it possible to no longer observe exceedances of thresholds for these substances", according to the same source.

This is a clear improvement compared to January 2019, when the Health Security Agency ANSES had mentioned long-term "risks" for the health of babies due to the presence of chemicals in these protections, leading government to demand actions from manufacturers.

"However, further improvements are expected for three references for which the measured formaldehyde content exceeds 10% of the health threshold," said the DGCCRF. "The situation does not justify ordering the recall of the products but the operators concerned are asked to deepen their diagnoses within six months".

Regarding formaldehyde, the Pampers Premium Protection, Marmailles Plus and Moina Zaza ranges are singled out. The rate of the first two is between 10 and 25% for this substance while it is even between 25 and 50% for the 3rd brand, sold exclusively in Mayotte and made in China, says Le Parisien.

"The traces do not come from our diapers but from the outside," defends himself in the daily Antoine Giuntini, director of BabyCare at Pampers. "ANSES recognizes that on this type of very tiny traces, it is necessary to perfect the analyzes. The components can also be found in the air. There is a possible margin of error".

Only six out of 32 references guarantee a formaldehyde presence rate of less than 10%. For 23 of them, ANSES cannot exclude an overshoot beyond 10%.

Finally, five references are completely in the green for eight families of chemical substances.

© 2020 AFP