What's in a disposable diaper?

8:01 PM | Labels: Cloth Diapers, Green Choices

The answer? We're not quite sure!

Go ahead, take a peek at the ingredients list on a package of disposable diapers. On the most forthcoming of packaging, it will read something like Diapers, Cosmetic Ingredients and some may even list Petroleum as an ingredient. Now perhaps I'm out of my mind but this reads all wrong to me. Isn't the product inside the packaging the diaper, and the ingredient what is in the diapers?

Before becoming a mom, I worked as a Graphic Designer. Package Design was one of many projects I worked on for a variety clients who manufactured cleaners and pharmaceutical goods. From my experience, this listing "diapers" as an ingredient to me appear to be a regulation loophole.

There is a regulation process that evaluates products containing materials considered hazardous and provides information back to the manufacturer to supply on the label. The term for this information, which not only outlines potential Hazard warnings but also supplies First Aid measures to be taken is called an MSDS Sheet. This is why you see a hazard symbol on a bottle of bleach warning you not to dunk your hands into it, and what to do in case you (or your little ones) do!

Are we to assume that diapers don't contain materials that are hazardous? I think the manufacturers certainly want us to think so, but on close inspection of today's modern diaper... I was a bit suspicious of the construction. The most obvious ingredient that warrants explanation are those tiny gel beads inside today's disposable diaper that soaks up liquid unlike anything nature invented and hardens into a firm, bulky mass. My cousin-in-law uses this reaction as an indicator that it's time for a diaper change.

After much digging, I have found that the substance is called Sodium Polyacrylate. Is there an MSDS sheet for Sodium Polyacrylate? There sure is, and here's a bit of what is contained on that sheet:

Hazard Identification
May be harmful if swallowed. May cause irritation. Avoid breathing vapors, or dusts. Use with adequate ventilation. Avoid contact with eyes, skin, and clothes. Wash thoroughly after handling.

First Aid Measures

FIRST AID: SKIN: Remove contaminated clothing. Wash exposed area with soap and water. if irritation persists, seek medical attention.

EYES: Wash eyes with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes, lifting lids occasionally. Seek Medical Aid.

INHALATION: Remove to fresh air. If not breathing, give artificial respiration. If breathing is difficult, give oxygen

INGESTION: If swallowed, induce vomiting immediately after giving two glasses of water. Never give anything by mouth to an unconscious person.

So if there's an MSDS sheet for Sodium Polyacrylate, and it's in the Diapers, why aren't these ingredients and their warnings listed on the packaging? How are diaper manufacturers getting away with not telling us about hazardous materials in the diapers?

My theory lies with complications within the regulatory system that allow provisions for certain products to be classified as self regulated. This means that it is entirely up to the manufacturer to choose whether or not they list these ingredients (and subsequently their warnings). I'm going to go ahead and assume that diapers are one such product classification, which might have been fine when disposable diapers were essentially made of paper, stuffing and plastic, but today's waste-containing product of convenience has changed! Shouldn't the regulation rules have changed with it?

Maybe I'm being too critical, but in an age where entire schools are banning children from bringing a peanut butter sandwich to school, I think it's pretty nutty that we don't expect full disclosure when it comes to exposing our infants to mystery chemicals. Don't you?

When I was researching this chemical, one chemist remarked that,

"by definition, it's nontoxic. Pretty damned unhealthy to eat, though".

Perhaps that is to mean that provided it's sealed within the diaper it's harmless? The same chemist goes on to say that as someone who likes kids he wasn't concerned about this chemical being in diapers because,

"what kid is in the habit of eating his diapers and has the physical strength to tear one open"?

Well to that, I would turn around and ask what happens if (and when) a flawed diaper bursts as it is unfolded due to a faulty seam? They have been known to do this, and frequently! This stuff then leaks all over your baby, who of course rubs his little hands in it then shoves his fist into his mouth! Even worse, how would you even know what to do about it... you haven't been told what it is, what to do about it, or even that it's in your diapers!

In the same article a chemist raises the point that cloth diapers produce ammonia which indeed is toxic, but I argue that it's not the same thing. Our bodies produce ammonia naturally as a waste breakdown bi-product which means we are used to some exposure to it. We do not produce Sodium Polyacrylate.

I'm no crazy tree-hugging fanatic either. I'm an average late 30's first time mom who has adopted some green ideals because they make sense financially and are better for my family's health. I chose cloth diapers because I wanted to save money and reduce the level of exposure my son has to potentially harmful substances. I'm writing this article because I am genuinely unnerved after learning about this in a recent CBC news article. I used disposables the first week my son was born when we were stuck in a hospital room for 5 days, and I didn't know this stuff was in the diapers I was putting on him in his first year of life.

Had we known what was in those diapers, we would have used cloth from day one no matter how inconvenient it was for my husband to run home to do the laundry every other day!