The warning was issued by the Director General of the Cameroonian Standards and Quality Agency (ANOR), Charles Booto A Ngon, wrote to the Minister of Commerce, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, drawing his attention to what he called the toxic diapers.
Without specifying the brand, Ngon said the health risk fear is informed by a careful study carried out by France’s Sanitary Safety Agency (ANSES), which led to the conclusions that some substances (propional butylphenyl methyl; hydroxyisohenyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons of dioxins or furans) exceed the health thresholds required for the product.
According to ANOR, since the disposable diapers are not subject to the pre-shipment conformity assessment programme for goods imported into Cameroon, “this situation exposes consumers to the risks associated with these products of unproven quality.”
Stopping short of naming any specific brand, ANSES based its analyses on 23 types of disposable diapers “among the most used” by consumers, to conclude that “contamination concerns all types of diapers, including so-called ecological diapers,” which contain chemical substances with health risks.
Among the scents involved, which are used in manufacturing the products, are propional butylphenyl methyl and hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde, but also polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, sometimes considered carcinogenic, dioxins or furans.