Diaper danger: California bill would force manufacturers to disclose ingredients

While ingredient lists are mandatory for nearly all baby products, diaper manufacturers are curiously exempt from disclosing what their nappies are made of.

Now, a California lawmaker is making it his mission to ensure parents are informed and companies are held accountable.

“Parents deserve better than a guessing game, especially when it comes to a product that will be touching their baby’s skin for every minute of every day for the first two years of their lives,” said assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park).

Berman is the force behind AB 1901, a proposed consumer safety and transparency law that would require diaper manufacturers to disclose all intentionally added ingredients in their products both online and on packaging.

In May, AB 1901 passed the state Assembly by a 68-1 vote and is now being considered in the state Senate.

The legislation grew out of Berman’s own experience. After the birth of his son, he began researching what baby products were and were not safe and was aghast to discover that diapers were not held to the same standard as other products.

“I went and looked at the box in our garage, and there wasn’t anything on there,” Berman said.

On Tuesday, A-list actor Hillary Swank joined Berman and other advocates in advance of a key Senate committee vote.

Swank, a mother of 3-year-old twins and chief innovation officer for HealthyBaby, a non-toxic diaper brand, echoed Berman’s experience.

“As diaper changing became one of the biggest parts of our daily lives, I started to wonder, what are these diapers actually made of?” she said.

Consumer Reports, which co-sponsored the latest legislation, said it recently analyzed the ingredient list for 31 brands of disposable diapers.

Of these, only two disclosed every or nearly every material, while seven additional manufacturers provided minimal information about product materials.

“Parents deserve to know which chemicals companies are putting in diapers, so they can make informed choices about what’s best for their baby. A baby’s skin is very delicate and absorbent, and diapers are in almost constant contact with their most sensitive areas, making ingredient transparency so important,” said Gabe Knight, Senior Safety Policy Analyst for Consumer Reports. 

CR notes that diaper companies employ umbrella terms like “fragrance” and “parfum” to mask formulations that contain hundreds of undisclosed ingredients. Likewise, the materials used in adhesives and wetness indicators are very rarely disclosed on packaging.

Supporters of the bill point to research linking suspected ingredients to serious health concerns.

Last year, a study published in Toxics found that babies who used diapers made with phthalates (synthetic chemicals used as plasticizers) actually had traces of them in their urine. The concerns down the line, researchers wrote, are that such chemicals could cause DNA damage that predisposes a baby to chronic diseases.

“Diapers can contain thousands — not just a few, but thousands — of different materials and chemicals, including those that can alter a baby’s hormones, harm their nervous system, or make them more susceptible to cancer, reproductive problems, asthma, or severe rashes,” said Swank.

While the legislation would not ban any particular ingredients or materials. it would require companies that manufacture and/or sell diapers in California to provide a list of intentionally added ingredients both online and eventually on the diaper’s outer packaging.

In response to mounting fears about chemical additives, many parents have opted for cloth diapers, with wool being the fabric of choice as of late.

A central reason so many parents have quietly opted for wool diapers is economic. Wool diapers by the piece aren’t cheap — a single diaper cover can cost $40 to $100 — but you don’t need many of them. 

For example, Lunapaca, which Bouwman calls the Holy Grail of the wool diapering vendors, sells a birth-to-potty training set of alpaca diapers for $750 all-in.

Some estimates find that parents spend about $900 per year on disposable diapers, and nearly half of American families can’t afford the expense.

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