Shanghai-based retailer suspends J&J baby product sale

Mar. 18, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Nonggongshang Supermarkets Corp, a major supermarket chain based in Shanghai, suspended selling baby products made by U.S.-based health care giant Johnson & Johnson on Monday after a non-profit U.S. organization said its children's bath products contain carcinogens, the official Xinhua News reported.

The retailer said it has to be responsible for its consumers and it will suspend sales of these products until they are proved safe, according to the report.

The organization, namely Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, said in an online report on Mar. 12 that Johnson & Johnson's baby bath products are found contaminated with the chemicals formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxanne that can cause cancer.

Johnson & Johnson, however, said in response that its baby bath products and all baby and kids' products are safe, gentle and mild products that babies' parents can trust and use with confidence. It also said it would not recall the baby products from China.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, China's quality supervisor, has begun to check the products, according to the report.