Since When is Cancer “Free and Gentle”?
WVE’s recent report Dirty Secrets: What’s Hiding in Your Cleaning Products? revealed high levels of 1,4-dioxane, a known cancer-causing chemical, hiding out in Tide Free & Gentle®.
To date, Procter & Gamble (makers of Tide®) has ignored more than 76,000 people who have emailed the company and signed a petition asking for the removal of 1,4-dioxane.
On April 18, more than 20 health organizations and nurses associations, including WVE, Healthy Child Healthy World, Greenpeace, Health Care Without Harm, and others, sent a letter to Procter & Gamble demanding that the company take action. Read the letter.
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Tell Procter & Gamble to strip 1,4-dioxane out of Tide Free & Gentle®! |
Recent Media
Mothers Challenge Trace Contaminant in Tide
New York Times
Procter & Gamble Defends Against Claims that Tide Detergent Contains Carcinogens
Forbes
Tide Detergent Found to Contain High Levels of 1,4-Dioxane, Carcinogenic Contaminant
Huffington Post
What is 1,4-Dioxane?
1,4-dioxane is a known cancer-causing chemical. Most commonly, 1,4-dioxane is found in products that create suds, like shampoo, liquid soap and bubble bath. It acts as a solvent, and is an expected contaminant when chemicals like sodium laureth sulfate, PEG compounds, and others are present.
Dirty Secrets also revealed 1,4-dioxane in other Procter & Gamble products like Tide Original® and Bounce Free & Sensitive®. There is no safe level of a known cancer-causing chemical.
Tide Free & Gentle® is marketed to moms as a “healthier choice” for their children’s laundry. Infants and children are more vulnerable to chemical exposures like these, because their immune, neurological, and hormone systems are still developing.
We know that it’s possible to strip this harmful chemical out of products. Procter & Gamble (makers of Tide) reformulated its Herbal Essences® shampoo in 2010 to strip out 1,4-dioxane. Tide Free & Gentle® contains three times the amount of this cancer-causing chemical.
