Babycare Releases Test Report: Diapers Free of Formamide Amid Escalating Consumer Safety Storm
Babycare, a major Chinese baby products brand, released a third-party test report in the early hours of June 21 confirming that its diapers tested negative for formamide, a reproductive toxicant that has sparked widespread panic among Chinese parents. The announcement comes as the company, along with HUGGIES (Kimberly-Clark) and Bébé Joy, seeks to reassure millions of anxious consumers amid a rapidly escalating controversy that has become a classic “Rashomon” situation.
The Initial Report That Sparked Panic
The crisis began on June 18, when the state-affiliated Economic Information Daily (经济参考报), a Xinhua News Agency publication, reported that commissioned tests had detected formamide in diapers from multiple major brands. The report cited the Shandong Provincial Public Health Clinical Center, claiming its mass spectrometry center had tested over 100 infant blood and urine samples and detected formamide at levels “sufficient to cause bodily harm.” In a dramatic detail, the report claimed a reporter who wore a diaper overnight saw their blood formamide concentration nearly double. All three implicated brands swiftly denied the allegations, with Babycare, HUGGIES, and Bébé Joy issuing statements and commissioning independent third-party tests, as reported by China News Network.
Formamide is classified as a Category 1B reproductive toxicant — presumed to have reproductive toxicity in humans. According to SGS toxicologist Li Jichao, cited by Southern Metropolis Daily, direct contact can cause skin irritation and ulceration in infants with weak skin barriers, while long-term微量 accumulation poses potential risks to reproductive system development.
Brands Fight Back with Test Reports
By June 21, Babycare, HUGGIES, and Bébé Joy had published third-party test results showing “no detection” of formamide. Babycare tested under both EU REACH SVHC standards and the SN/T 3587-2016 standard, with all 23 products tested showing no detection, as reported by Guancha.cn.
Babycare reported receiving approximately 600,000 customer inquiries, while HUGGIES received nearly 1 million. “We fully understand the anxiety and unease in every parent’s heart,” Babycare said in its official statement, “and we sincerely accept public supervision of our products.”
A Rashomon of Conflicting Narratives
The controversy has spiraled into a multi-sided dispute with no clear resolution. On June 19, internal statements from the Shandong Provincial Public Health Clinical Center and its expert Yu Zhaoyan circulated online, denying the research and interviews cited in the report. The center stated it had “never conducted research on the health effects of diapers.”
However, reporter Wang Wenzhi released audio evidence claiming Yu’s denial was coerced. In the recording, Yu allegedly says: “They forced me to sign, must sever ties. A dozen leaders sat there, all staring at me sternly… Not a single person cared about how these children would be treated.”
The China Paper Association’s Sanitary Products Committee also criticized the original report for lacking methodological rigor, failing to disclose testing standards or specific numerical values, and improperly attributing infant formamide exposure solely to diapers without ruling out other sources.
A Critical Regulatory Gap
Perhaps the most significant revelation from this incident is that China’s current national standards for baby diapers — GB/T 28004.1-2021 and the mandatory GB 43631-2023 — do not include formamide in their testing requirements. According to Sina News Insight, the standard was drafted with the assumption that formamide “should not exist” in diapers under proper manufacturing processes.
This regulatory gap means that while formamide is banned in cosmetics under China’s Catalogue of Prohibited Cosmetics Ingredients, it can legally go untested in diapers — products that spend prolonged periods in direct contact with infants’ most sensitive skin.
What Happens Next
Market supervision authorities in Hangzhou and Huzhou have entered the implicated companies for independent product inspections and supply chain audits. Reports indicate the State Administration for Market Regulation has initiated plans to revise the mandatory standard to include formamide testing.
Veteran Chinese media commentator Hu Xijin wrote that “whether it’s the health of infants and young children, the integrity of government-affiliated institutions, or the credibility of the media, none are trivial matters.” He called for national-level authorities to intervene and get to the bottom of the matter.
For now, millions of Chinese parents remain caught in the middle — unsure whose test results to trust, unable to find independent testing facilities for formamide, and left wondering whether the diapers their children wear every day are truly safe. The resolution of this crisis will likely hinge on the regulatory inspections currently underway and whether China moves to close the regulatory gap that allowed this controversy to erupt in the first place.