Social media posts have raised concerns about Andrex Ultimate Quilts tissue claiming that it contains carcinogenic and other harmful chemicals like formaldehyde and chlorine bleaching which pose health risk to consumers.
However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. There may be some traces of formaldehyde and chlorine in the Andrex Ultimate Quilts tissue but those are not added intentionally. Those traces are within the safe limits.
Fact Check
Facts about Formaldehyde: The European Union officially recognized Formaldehyde as a hazardous chemical. It was categorized as carcinogenic and found to damage genetic material and trigger skin irritation or allergic reactions. Formaldehyde is used in many household products and slowly releases formaldehyde gas. According to the European Chemicals Agency, these gases are a serious health concern.
Therefore, the EU had set stricter limits on how much formaldehyde consumer products are allowed to emit. The regulation does not completely ban formaldehyde from all products, but it states that if an article releases formaldehyde above the newly fixed safety threshold, it cannot be sold in the European market.
According to the National Cancer Institute, formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen. Studies have found a higher risk of myeloid leukemia as well as cancers of the nasal cavity, paranasal sinuses, and nasopharynx among the workers who handled and inhaled formaldehyde. Even lower airborne exposure can irritate the eyes, nose, throat, skin, and lungs, especially in sensitive people.
Chlorine Bleaching: After research it was found that elemental chlorine bleaching was linked to formation of chlorinated organic pollutant, adsorbable organic halides and dioxins, which are known as carcinogens. These harmful compounds are formed when chlorine reacts with natural organic substances present in wood pulp during the whitening process.
However, the pulp and paper industry has undergone a major shift away from elemental chlorine gas bleaching to chlorine dioxide–based bleaching, called Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) bleaching. According to the researchers, this shift has resulted in the massive decrease of the chlorinated pollutant during the bleaching.
The European Union had made a regulation stating that elemental chlorine gas cannot be used as a bleaching agent in the pulp or paper manufacturing process. It was noticed that the old chlorine gas bleaching used to create a lot of chlorinated pollutants. However, the regulation had approved the use of chlorine dioxide which means many approved tissues may still be made with ECF (Elemental Chlorine Free) bleaching.
The regulation had also set an upper limit on dangerous leftover chemicals in the tissue paper. For recycled-fibre tissue products, formaldehyde, glyoxal, and pentachlorophenol must remain below strict maximum safety limits after testing. Furthermore formaldehyde, formaldehyde-releasing preservatives, parabens, triclosan, and methylisothiazolinone must not be intentionally added in lotion formulations or surface treatments used on tissue products.
Does Andrex Ultimate Quilts Tissues contain formaldehyde and are bleached with chlorine?
We looked for the list of the ingredients used in the Andrex Ultimate Quilts tissue paper. We found that the product is latex free, paraben free, BPA free, tree free, formaldehyde free, chlorine free, plastic free, bleach free, dye free, metal free, synthetic free.
It was clearly mentioned that the product is formaldehyde free and chlorine free.
Conclusion:
Fact Crescendo found the claim to be Misleading. Andrex Ultimate Quilts tissues may or may not contain formaldehyde and chlorine. But these are not intentionally added and proved to be safe when traces of these are below the restricted level.
Title: Does Andrex Ultimate Quilts Tissue Contain Harmful Formaldehyde and Chlorine Bleach?
Fact Check By: Siddharth Sahu
Result: Misleading
