The insanity of 'products' is clearly illustrated here. As in all things, there is bad news/good news. Bad news is when you learn that something you have bought and used or is sitting on your shelf is actually 'bad' for you and your family. Very frustrating, right? Well, what if you could turn the energy of frustration into the energy needed to do something about it? The Good News (see, already there's good news!) is: You Can!
Here's a little tutorial on how.
CHAPTER ONE - A LITTLE ON LABELS, BRANDING, FALSE ADVERTISING
(yes, we start with bad news, so we can look forward to the good that comes after bad ツ
Everyone's heard of Johnson & Johnson and due to heavy advertising we've been conditioned to think of them in terms of their catch phrases which sound nice: 'family owned' 'mother trusted' etc etc.
*IRONY STATEMENT
Even as J&J continue to manufacture and market BABY POWDER they are in the midst of a huge class action lawsuit alleging the primary ingredient in BABY POWDER, which is TALC, has caused ovarian cancer in women who used the product over time. (note: let that statement sink in. I know, I know, you get it, BABY powder, a product made and marketed to women for their BABIES, which J&J we now read below allege to care about)
*Oh, and just this week, the first week in June, the news reported J&J 'lost' and the claimants 'won.' We all lose, but that's another perspective so I'll let it go for now or this blog will be a book!!!!
A glance at the label in photo 2 below where they've printed the words in bold letters 'OUR BABIES WILL INHERIT OUR PLANET'. I take issue with two...no three things about this statement...
1. they are misleading the purchaser into assuming J&J care about babies and/or the planet
2. it is not OUR planet. we are tourists, travelers, guests here. WE DO NOT OWN THE PLANET. we are tasked with being good stewards of it, for ourselves and for the generations of all life here and to come, not just human life
3. don't be taken in by catch phrases written like this, or said by a soothing voice on a commercial with lovely music in the background as companies like this 'play to' your empathies. NO COMPANY has to tell us we love our babies, we know this without their BS
NOTE: I am on a roll. You may have to go get a cup of tea or stand and stretch. This is a marathon of perspective, but I promise, worth it.
CHAPTER TWO HOW TO READ AND NOT READ A LABEL
It is actually fascinating to actually read a product container. Of particular note is both what it says and what it does not say. Savvy consumer that you are or will become, you're onto the bastards! They won't be able to fool you anymore, or if they do, it will be really harder to do.
Here is a picture of two J&J products. Both baby powder. Both have a clean looking straight forward front label, not much wordiness. The product on left only tells you it is 'silky soft skin'. The one on the right, it is 'soothing aloe and vitamin e' that 'gently absorbs moisture to keep skin dry and soft'. It also tells you 'pure cornstarch.' Why, you might ask, does product on left not tell you it is talc? Could it be that the people who refer to themselves as 'family owned and operated' don't want you be acutely aware that it contains talc? I don't know. Neither do you. All we know is one product refers to an ingredient within and the other, which was/is under a class action lawsuit, does not (on the front label, anyway, which is the part most people glance at without thinking about. Companies know this about you.)
Now let's take a look at the backside. Oh, hey, it WARNS you not to allow your baby to inhale the product. Are you serious? You have a wriggly baby your trying to sprinkle powder on and the product ALWAYS goes airborn...if you don't remember it does, try sprinkling some right now. whoa! it's all over those air molecules!!
AVOID CONTACT WITH EYES. Okay, so we can't breathe or get it in eyes. Again, airborne!
The TALC product is two ingredients, TALC and FRAGRANCE. We already have been warned about TALC, it apparently causes CANCER. And the second ingredient is a big problem too. Google 'fragrance in skin and body care products' and learn what people with sensitivities to allergens already deeply know: the word FRAGRANCE on a product ALWAYS means ARTIFICIALLY DERIVED. It is a synthetic, petro-chemically manufactured additive. ALWAYS.
Look at the label on the right. It is the one that front label had 'pure cornstarch' on. But read the back label and see it contains more than pure cornstarch. It contains tricalcium phosphate, fragrance, and tocopheryl.
It also states 'AVOID CONTACT WITH OPEN FLAME'
Okay, you usually don't have open flames around the babies changing table so that seems logical enough to be able to avoid flames. I guess except if someone is dumb enough to smoke cigarettes while changing baby. I'm sure it happens.
But being curious, I try calling J&J to ask what exactly is flammable in baby powder, but it is a Saturday and they are closed. Their recorded message advises you how to lull your baby to sleep with a J&J bath, a massage and quiet time. It also advises you that if you are calling with a medical emergency to hang up and contact the ER. Again, makes you ask how many medical emergency inquiries a consumer might be making to the manufacturer of BABY PRODUCTS.
Curiosity still aroused I decide to experiment. I light a match and sprinkle regular straight untainted corn starch on it. Nothing happens. okay, won't be setting the baby on fire with corn starch.
Then I sprinkle J&J BABY POWDER on a lit match flame. SPARKS FLY!!!!! WTF? Now I want to know what is flammable in the friggen powder people are sprinkling on BABIES!!!!
So there. You know enough about J&J to not buy their products. See how simple this is going to be? Learn what companies not to buy from and you don't have to worry about decyphering their product or labels.
Here is the label for a PETROLEUM JELLY. This is not a J&J label. But note that the product is 99.96% petroleum, and the rest, we presume, is FRAGRANCE, because after all, petroleum tends to stink like petroleum and who wants to smell like a derivative of what you fuel your vehicle with????
A lot of manufacturers encourage you to rub MINERAL OIL over your baby's skin, to make it baby soft. Ironic isn't it? Trying to get baby's skin to be baby soft....hmmmm....anyway, yes, back to J&J here, the label tells us the product is MINERAL OIL and FRAGRANCE (oh, that again) and it warns you not to ingest OR INHALE the product. Okay, so take a clothespin and clip it on your and your babies noses and hold your breath while you apply a product that neither of you should be smelling and see how well that works for all involved.
ahem. What is MINERAL OIL anyway? Turns out:
- a distillation product of petroleum, especially one used as a lubricant, moisturizer, or laxative.
ABOUT J&J: Common sense suggests that the company, being run by people after all, have had babies born into their families. They love them, I am certain of that.
So why would people make and sell and promote products for your and my babies that they have to label-warn us about? They do not have to make products with synthetic ingredients, with petroleum and fragrances. Petroleum is a limited, non-renewable, polluting 'resource.' I don't even like to call it that. I think we should re-source the ingredients in products made for BABIES!!! Our most precious renewable irreplaceable resource. Let's stop sprinkling and smearing flammable, un-inhalable crap on them!!!
OOPs, sorry. I know you know this.
Damn! Let's get onto the GOOD NEWS please. I am getting despondent and I am an anti-despondent personality type. There's always a way out or past all the madness!!
The purpose of this post is not just bring forward awareness about products, it is to reassure you and I that there are alternatives to EVERYTHING. It is so empowering to educate ourselves. We hold SO MUCH POWER and it goes untapped when we buy from irresponsible, profit-motivated companies.
Let us begin today to co-support one another with inquiry, exploration and dissemination of good information so we empower each other to make informed decisions and informed purchases. Many of you are already on this journey. Let's step it up to the next level.
Go Us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
