Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Powder The Baby

… Another Company’s Baby Powder May Contain Asbestos

Remember that high-profile legal case involving Johnson & Johnson baby powder… the one where the company was held liable for selling a product containing asbestos which harmed its users?

Well, that was some time ago.  Like, many weeks ago.  In fact, “J & J” announced that they’d end the sale of that kind of baby powder by the first of this year (and switch to a different baby powder with a corn-starch base)… possibly because they still face tens of thousands of lawsuits.

It’s a good guess that customers switched away from J & J baby powder for several reasons.  Among those reasons::

• There are other brands of baby powder by manufacturers who aren’t J & J,
• Everyone in the free world has probably heard about J & J’s legal troubles, and
• Many people, especially astute readers of this space, know that asbestos is dangerous.

Bad news, Gentle Readers: It turns out J & J probably isn’t the only manufacturer that’s put asbestos-containing baby powder on the market.

Dynarex, which makes the “Dynacare” brand of baby powder, was just caught by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for putting asbestos back on the baby powder shelves.

The FDA did some random routine testing, and sure enough, samples of Dynacare were shown to contain cancer-causing asbestos.

Dynarex has recalled sixty-two cases of Dynacare from distributors in twelve states, including Colorado.  The stuff has also been sold on Amazon, so even your sister in Texas (not one of the twelve) might be powdering her kid (or herself) with the ugly stuff.

Why is this a problem, you may ask, especially if you are NOT one of the astute regular readers of this space?

Here’s why:  Asbestos is actually all around us, in everything from the materials used to build our homes and workplaces, to the faux jewelry favored by our teenage daughters.  When it’s in its solid, manufactured state, the asbestos is not harmful.

But when the stuff is disturbed, by something as simple as a small house fire or a burst pipe (or by our teenage daughter tossing her faux jewelry into the fireplace)… it breaks up into microscopic shards that can impale themselves in your lungs and cause some types of cancer that can’t be cured.

Asbestos has also been found in many products that contain talcum, such as powdered makeup and, yes, baby powder.  That’s because it’s darned difficult to mine talcum without scooping up asbestos in the process, since the two minerals are often mingled or co-located in the earth.

It doesn’t take a genius, or even an astute regular reader of this space, to realize that if asbestos arrives in your home in powdered form, it’s already disturbed.  Breathe enough of that stuff in, over time, and you could be in serious trouble.

So could Baby.

So if you have powdered makeup in your home that includes “talcum” or “talc” (read the ingredients), get rid of it.

And if you have Dynacare baby powder in a 14-ounce plastic bottle with the batch number “B051” and an expiration date of 12/28/26 printed on the bottom, do not use it.  Instead, return it for a full refund.  You can get ahold of Dynarex at 888-396-2739 or by emailing recall@dynarex.com.

Don’t take chances with asbestos.  It’s an ugly poison that you don’t want in your world.  If you suspect you might have airborne asbestos, either because you’ve been using Dynacare baby powder or because someone threw their faux jewelry into the fireplace, get your place professionally tested.  And if a problem is detected, reach out to your expert and attractive friends at Asbestos Abatement, Inc.  We’ll work hard to make your place asbestos free.