J&J baby products- chemicals contained in the products could cau

BEIJING -- Chinese health authorities are investigating baby products made by Johnson & Johnson in response to a U.S. consumer group\'s charges, disputed by the company, that some chemicals contained in the products could cause cancer.

The probe by Shanghai\'s Food and Drug Administration, which was disclosed Wednesday by Gu Zhenhua, a senior official at the agency, follows a move Monday by Shanghai-based Nonggongshan Supermarkets Corp. to halt sales of J&J\'s baby shampoo, soap and lotion at its more than 3,500 outlets.

The investigation was prompted by a report by Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of American nonprofit health and environmental groups. It said that formaldehyde and 1,4 dioxane, chemicals found in small amounts in baby-care products, including those by J&J that are sold world-wide, are known to cause cancer in animals. The report, originally published March 12 on the group\'s Web site, was picked up by Chinese media and disseminated on the Internet here. J&J\'s products for the China market are made in China. The report criticizes the manufacturing process as well as the practice of including the chemicals in the products without full disclosure on labels.

J&J, based in New Brunswick, N.J., said the allegations of health risks are untrue. Trace levels of the two compounds can result from processes that make our products gentle for babies and safe from bacteria growth, the company said in a statement. The U.S. 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.

Stephanie Kwisnek, a spokeswoman for the U.S. FDA, said she hadn\'t seen the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics report and declined to comment on it specifically, but said the FDA has been aware of potential health concerns regarding 1,4 dioxane but that there currently is no evidence to show that trace levels, such as those found in cosmetics, are harmful. She said the FDA continues to monitor the chemical.

She also said formaldehyde isn\'t prohibited or restricted as a cosmetic ingredient in the U.S. because the FDA hasn\'t concluded products that contain it are harmful.

Any level of carcinogen in a baby product is of concern, said Lisa Archer of the Breast Cancer Fund, the national coordinator for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and an author of the March 12 report. We\'re encouraging Johnson & Johnson and other companies to reformulate without these chemicals of concern.

A J&J spokeswoman said the company has seen only a few, sporadic inquiries by retailers in China or elsewhere on the issue.

The episode highlights growing sensitivity of Chinese consumers to allegations of product-safety problems following a string of scandals over tainted infant milk powder and other shoddy or dangerous goods. An official at China\'s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in Beijing, which sets national guidelines, said it is also looking into J&J products.

J&J is the largest seller of infant skin lotions and other baby-care products in China, with 69% of the market by revenue in 2008, according to Euromonitor International. The market-research firm estimates that total sales in the China market were 2.7 billion yuan, or about $395 million, in 2008.