Toxins in Household Products Leave FDA Chasing a Vapor Trail

When the Food and Drug Administration last week identified the likely sources of a powerful carcinogen that's been found in a myriad of personal-care products, it was the latest development in a year of recalls that has shown the potential dangers of everyday products Americans have long assumed are safe.

Benzene is a known carcinogen, linked to leukemia and other blood cancers, and traces of it have recently been identified in everything from sunscreen to antiperspirant. But determining its origin isn’t a simple matter. The supply chains that bring American consumers their grooming products are so massive and complex that benzene contamination could come from any one of a number of places: a preservative, a propellant, a thickener — all targeted by U.S. health authorities as possible sources.

The chemical is not supposed to be used to make such products, and companies including Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble Co. and Bayer AG that have initiated recalls say they don’t. Yet it has nonetheless slipped through the cracks and into several commonly used grooming products. And no one noticed until a small lab in New Haven, Connecticut, called Valisure went looking. Valisure’s findings that began in March set off a string of benzene-related recalls culminating in a Dec. 23 FDA request for companies to test any products at risk of contamination.