In the mad race of cut-throat competition for insane profit-making, several organisations are putting the importance of human life on the back burner. To get ahead of their competitors, they carry out harmful experiments and claim to launch ‘UPGRADED’ products without having any care for the safety of their customers. These willful ‘negligence’ or evil business practises are fast becoming a menace.
Unilever recalls carcinogenic Products
What will be your reaction if I tell you that beauty products can pose danger to your life? You will probably think that now he will start blurting conspiracy theories or will do sensationalism. What can an ‘innocent’ beauty product like shampoo or talc-powder do damage to someone’s life? Let me tell you categorically, we are not here to create panic or do sensationalism or malign any sector.
Recent events have highlighted the terrifying business practises of consumer product behemoths that have put customers’ lives in grave danger. So, it becomes important to rationally analyse the happenings and remain vigilant of such evil practices, if any.
Evidently, Unilever recently recalled its 19 popular aerosol dry shampoos products from the US market. It was found that these dry shampoos contained a carcinogenic chemical substance called Benzene. Notably, certain chemicals, including benzene, beryllium, asbestos, vinyl chloride, and arsenic are popularly known as human carcinogens. These carcinogens have been found to cause cancer in humans, including leukaemia and blood cancer of the bone marrow. Simply put, these recalled Unilever products posed a great danger of causing cancer to their sustained consumers.
However, Unilever claimed that it had recalled these products out of caution and no adverse effect had been reported so far. Reportedly, it took the drastic step after getting warning observations from the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA).
Unilever has recalled a host of its consumer products, including Dove, Tresemmé, Nexxus, Suave and Tigi (maker of Rockaholic and Bed Head dry shampoos).
As per reports, all the recalled Unilever products were produced before October 2021. Unilever has also asked retailers to remove these “harmful” products from shelves.
What are dry shampoos?
Dry Shampoos are primarily sold by Unilever in the markets of the US and Canada. These shampoos do not come in liquid form but in powder form. They work the same way, with the only difference being that they don’t require water to be applied to the hair. It is claimed that these shampoos remove the stickiness in hair and make the hair look thicker. Due to this added advantage, women mostly use it to avoid washing their hair every day. These are like powders or sprays.
Is it a cause of worry for Indian consumers and what is HUL’s take on this?
Notably, Dove and Tresemme shampoos are widely used in India, which raises many concerns. Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the Indian arm of Unilever Plc, has assured its consumers that they have nothing to worry about. As per reports, HUL maintained that the company doesn’t produce and sell dry shampoos in India. That is why there is no need to create panic for Indian consumers. Additionally, the company stated that an independent health hazard evaluation had already been concluded. It was done to check the levels of benzene present in the shampoos. In these internal evaluations, it was found that the levels of benzene detected in these shampoos do not pose a health risk.
Previous instance of carcinogenic beauty products
Earlier, in August, the US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson announced that it would discontinue the sales of its controversial talc-based baby powder globally from the year 2023. This announcement came two years after J&J had halted its sales in the USA and Canada.
Carcinogenic chrysotile fibres were found in a sample of Johnson & Johnson baby powder. The dangerous fibre is a type of asbestos, another carcinogen that can cause cancer in humans. Back then, Maharashtra FDA had cancelled its manufacturing licence.
Read More: Once a leader in baby products, why is ‘Johnson & Johnson’ shutting down?
Additionally, in 2021, Procter & Gamble had also recalled more than 30 aerosol spray hair care products. The products included dry shampoo and dry conditioner. While recalling these products, the American consumer product giant had cautioned that these products may contain benzene.
Apart from that, the company had recalled more than a dozen Old Spice and Secret brands of deodorants and sprays. Again, the fear was the same that these products might contain benzene.
It is time that stringent measures should be taken against such companies that put the life of consumers at risk just to make enormous wealth for themselves. The regulators need to strictly launch campaigns to regularly monitor the chemicals in consumer goods and impose heavy fines in case of violations and even revocation of their licences.
These consumer giants only understand the language of money and should be taught lesson in that term only that is imposing hefty fine for putting consumer’s lives at risk and compensate the victims of these crimes.
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