A recent analysis conducted by the nonprofit health advocacy group, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, has noted that tested baby products – such as shampoo, bubble baths and lotions – were contaminated with cancer-causing toxins.

To be more specific, the toxins found in the analysis were formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane, both of them considered dangerous chemicals. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has said that even trace amounts of 1,4-dioxane can cause cancer, while the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Health and Human Services have both identified dioxane as causing cancer in animal and as a “probable human carcinogen.”

“If chemicals are causing cancer in animals, we really shouldn’t be putting them on babies’ heads,” said Stacy Malkan of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, lead author of the study.

The group commissioned an independent laboratory to test 48 top-selling children’s products for 1,4-dioxane and 28 of them for formaldehyde.

Twenty-three of the 28 products tested for formaldehyde were shown to contain the chemical, and 17 of those products contained both formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane.

Johnson's Baby Shampoo, L'Oreal Kids Extra Gentle 2-in-1 shampoo and Pampers Kandoo foaming hand soap were among them. These products contained enough formaldehyde to trigger a skin reaction in highly sensitive people, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics said in its report.

Thirty-two of the 48 products tested, or 67 percent, contained 1,4-dioxane.

The findings were dismissed by the Personal Care Products Council.

“When present, these chemicals would likely be found at very low levels precisely because companies have gone to great lengths in the formulation and manufacturing processes to ensure that the products are safe and gentle for children and also protected from harmful bacterial growth,” the organization said.