The Importance of Disclosing Diaper Ingredients
The Brooklyn Diaper Project, an initiative of the Moore Family Charitable Foundation, seeks to address the urgent issue of diaper need for New York City families through both bulk purchase and distribution, as well as creating structures and opportunity for local mutual aid donations. We are different from traditional diaper banks because we insist on two things: purchasing eco-conscious choices, and exploring alternative means of distribution that empower community members. To this end, we recently hired a consulting firm to understand several brands’ ingredients and their certifications. The lack of transparency of these leading diaper brands has ended in only deeper confusion in making informed decisions.
The cost of diapers—which has risen 22% in the past 3 years1—is a barrier to families accessing this basic essential. Families that are buying diapers deserve to make those expensive, important choices with the same information that they have access to for things like food. Just as someone with Celiac Disease wouldn’t buy cereal without first understanding the ingredients, families deserve to know exactly what justifies the cost of hygiene supplies like diapers and how component materials will affect their health. Studies have shown the negative impact that many common diaper ingredients can have on skin and the environment2.
Families that cannot afford to buy an adequate supply of diapers (and must resort to other options, such as reusing diapers, limiting fluids, or wrapping towels around their babies) deserve healthy options just as much as anyone else. The families we serve deserve diapers that will not irritate skin or contain chemicals with unknown and potentially dangerous adverse health effects. And everyone on the planet deserves diapers which will have the least possible negative effects on the climate, breaking down into non-toxic materials as quickly as possible. It is hard to know for sure whether we are purchasing wisely. We have an obligation to be an authority and are flying blind.
Requiring companies to disclose ingredients will force companies to do the right thing and make changes for the better, pushing them to innovate even better eco solutions than before while keeping their price points. It will require them to explain exactly how component diaper materials can affect babies well being and allow scientists to counter unfounded claims. Knowledge makes everyone stronger.
The Brooklyn Diaper Project one day aims to manufacture a diaper under a nonprofit model where proceeds go toward making and distributing even more diapers for free. We believe we can make a diaper that is eco-conscious and affordable and belongs in daycares and health facilities across NYC. We have to understand the current norms and standards to break them and do even better.
Understanding other brands’ diaper ingredients impacts our project’s future success and the health and well-being of everyone involved- as we make decisions about purchasing, provide education and advice to parents and colleagues in the reproductive justice space, and map out future manufacturing plans.
1 Kelly, L. (2022, June 1) As families feel the pinch of inflation, diaper banks see increased need [Radio broadcast]. WBUR.
2 Makoś-Chełstowska, P., Kurowska-Susdorf, A., & Płotka-Wasylka, J. (2021) Environmental problems and health risks with disposable baby diapers: Monitoring of toxic compounds by application of analytical techniques and need of education, TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Volume 143, October 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2021.116408.