China clears Johnson & Johnson baby products after probe

Chinese health authorities said on Saturday that they had found no evidence of cancer-causing chemicals in baby products made by U.S. company Johnson & Johnson.

The State Food and Drug Administration had investigated 33 products, including baby shampoo, made by Johnson & Johnson after a U.S. consumer group charged that they contained carcinogens.

The SFDA, in a statement on its website, said it would continue to monitor the situation and carry out timely tests.

“The results of the investigation will help eliminate consumers’ doubts and unnecessary worries. It was very important and timely,” Wang Meiying, general manager of Johnson & Johnson (China), said in a statement.

According to media reports, a Shanghai-based regional supermarket chain, Nonggongshang Supermarket Group, ordered its 3,500 outlets to remove baby bath products made by Johnson & Johnson from their shelves.

Other big outlets in China, including the U.S. supermarket Wal-Mart Stores and its French rival Carrefour, still carry the products.

Johnson & Johnson has disputed the allegations by the U.S.-based Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, saying that trace levels of the compounds in question result from processes that make the products gentle for babies and safe from bacteria growth.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies consider these trace level safe.

BEIJING (Reuters)