The Hindu : National : Battle against "baby oil" continues

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 19, 2005

National

National

Battle against "baby oil" continues

By Kalpana Sharma

MUMBAI, MARCH 18. Any company selling a product using the word "baby" in the label for it is now under the scanner.

The Maharashtra Food and Drugs Commissioner, A. Ramakrishna, told The Hindu that the process of verifying the contents of other "baby" products was underway.

This, he said, was necessary after the notice the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) issued to Johnson & Johnson on March 15 asking how products containing paraffin oil could be touted as suitable for babies. "We are not targeting a particular company", Mr. Ramakrishna said.

He said other companies like Dabur, Wipro and Himalaya, which also produced "baby oil" and other products for infants, had been asked to furnish information by the FDA about their contents.

This could be followed by tests on the products by the FDA. Mr. Ramakrishna said worldwide the term "baby oil" referred to mild oil that could be used by adults and babies. It is not sold primarily as oil for babies.

But in India, the connotation of the term "baby" would suggest that it was primarily for infants.

He said in India vegetable oil was traditionally used for babies.

Thus, it was likely that people would use the product assuming that it contained only vegetable oil.

The FDA's primary concern, Mr. Ramakrishna said, was to ensure that companies did not give misleading information. What had begun as an investigation into baby products would inevitably lead to the much larger question of the content of cosmetics, he said. "But we can only do one thing at a time," he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National