The danger lurking in your child's dummy

Chemical found in babies dummies “probably” causes cancer.

The Telegraph reports that a chemical found in babies’ dummies and condoms “probably causes cancer” the World Health Organisation has said but experts argue that people should not be concerned as it is more of a threat to workers in factories who produce the items.

MBT or 2-mercaptobenzothiazole is in a wide range of rubber products, including condoms, babies’ dummies, rubber gloves, soft playground surfaces made of “rubber crumb”, elastic bands and car tyres.

Experts from eight countries said there was enough evidence to add the chemical to its “encyclopaedia of carcinogens”.

Professor Hans Kromhout, a member of the committee that reviewed the chemical, said: “It has been identified in gloves and baby bottle teats and soothers.”

Professor Tom Sorahan, of Birmingham University, who led the Welsh study, said the small amounts of MBT in everyday products were not likely to be harmful.

“I doubt whether MBT is a health issue for the general population but workers manufacturing or using the chemical need to be protected,” he was quoted as saying by MailOnline.

However, Dr Michael Warhurst of campaign group CHEM Trust, said people should be wary.

“We need the regulatory system to work faster to protect us,” he told the newspaper. “People would be right to be concerned about this, and to ask retailers whether this chemical is present in products that they have bought.”

Does this make you want to ditch the baby’s dummy sooner than you planned?

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18 Comments

- - Threelos said
  - 22 Apr 2016
    9:36 pm
Scary really. Nothing seems safe when companies manufacture things with the aim of maximum profit not maximum safety.

- - sharna_booth_weinrowski said
  - 17 Apr 2016
    8:38 pm
Why i wash my daughters in boiling water!

- - aprilb1 said
  - 05 Apr 2016
    10:43 pm
I never used them with both my kids, i tried them when they were newborns but neither of my son’s liked a dummy

- - curlytops said
  - 02 Apr 2016
    11:00 pm
I wonder what else we use daily is also dangerous?

- - mom94125 said
  - 02 Mar 2016
    11:57 am
very scary! you just want to keep all plastics away from your child!

- - welshmummy said
  - 01 Mar 2016
    10:39 am
Scary stuff mind you everything seems to cause cancer these days but I’ll think twice about buying any baby dummies in the future.

- - meedee said
  - 29 Feb 2016
    10:54 pm
My kids were all thumb suckers which was fine by me but total strangers in public thought they had the right to come up and tell my kids that their thumbs were dirty and they shouldnt have them in their mouths. How rude.

- - mom93821 said
  - 29 Feb 2016
    9:17 pm
I would need to read more about this issue and gather more information before making a decision.

- - KrysGrace said
  - 29 Feb 2016
    7:40 pm
So basically there are quite a few products, not just dummys that has something in it that “could” cause cancer. If you listened every organisation that claims that something out there will make you sick then you wouldn’t do anything.

- - Nas01 said
  - 29 Feb 2016
    7:33 pm
Omg, this is very scary. I know there may not be an immediate threat but still concerning.

- - BellaB said
  - 29 Feb 2016
    3:56 pm
It makes me glad only one of my kids wanted a dummy!

- - Mummytoabeautifulprincess said
  - 29 Feb 2016
    3:24 pm
Is there nothing safe in the world anymore?

- - mom90758 said
  - 29 Feb 2016
    2:41 pm
My daughter never used a dummy. But still… if they are worried that it can cause cancer, why don’t they take it out of the market, make all the necessary investigations, and then start selling them again when everything is cleared?

- - mom105503 said
  - 29 Feb 2016
    2:20 pm
Just another thing for us to avoid, if we avoided all that we are supposed to we would eat or do nothing. But then again if we consumed all that could be beneficial we could have anything.

- - mom160421 said
  - 29 Feb 2016
    1:45 pm
These sorts of warnings just add anxiety to parents. If the products are deemed dangerous, take them off the market. Don’t throw the word “probably” around, because just about everything could “probably” make us sick or hurt us.