Parents across the country claim new technology aimed at keeping diapers thinner and drier actually caused their babies to suffer from painful, blistering rashes – even chemical burns.
According to Pampers’ website , diapers containing Dry Max technology are considered “new high performance diapers,” designed with a baby’s
“happiness and well-being in mind.”
However, thousands of parents are posting comments and photographs online, claiming the product is causing rashes and marks their children never experienced before using the product.
“There was this huge two-inch size blister, and it was scarlet red,” Cathy Valentine said, explaining the irritation on her daughter, Alexis.
The Michigan mom showed a photograph of the rash to our sister station in Detroit and said she believes the rash started when she started using Pampers’ diapers with “Dry Max” technology.
“[My baby] was just looking at me like why aren’t you doing something to help me,” she said.
Heather Bigler lives in Queen Creek with her 22-month-old baby girl, Annaliese.
When Annaliese was 18-months old, Bigler said she developed a rash on her leg that looked like a sunburn.
“It was really hot to the touch,” she said.
Bigler said Annaliese was wearing a Pampers Dry Max diaper at the time, and blames it for causing the rash.
“Definitely, there is a problem,” Bigler said. “[It] definitely needs to be looked into.”
Bigler did not take pictures of her daughter’s rash, but she said she did file a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission about her concerns.
Valentine and Bigler are among more than 11,000 people nationwide who are members of Facebook pages where parents are posting pictures and comments, claiming Pampers Dry Max diapers have caused unusual rashes, even burns, on their babies.
Click here to see one of the Facebook pages where parents are posting comments about Pampers Dry Max diapers.
In May, attorneys representing families who used the diapers filed an initial complaint in the United States District Court, Southern District of Ohio against the Procter & Gamble Company; the Procter & Gamble Paper Products Company, and the Procter & Gamble Distributing LLC. In July, an attorney working on behalf of Procter & Gamble filed a motion for a preliminary pretrial conference. In August, a 211-page, consolidated class action complaint alleged the company “knew or should’ve known the product contained irritants.”
The lawsuit names 40 families from various parts of the United States as complainants. The families allege their babies got rashes after wearing Pampers Dry Max diapers, causing them “pain” and even “oozing blisters.”
For months, Procter & Gamble has denied any problems with its product, and called the lawsuit’s claims “completely false.”
The company said it considered more than 20,000 babies and more than 300,000 diaper changes during its safety evaluation.
“What we care about is making baby's lives better, and so I can tell you we have done everything we can possibly do to ensure that this product is safe,” said Jodi Allen, General Manager of Pampers North America, in a video statement supplied to the ABC15 Investigators.
“Dry Max is a technology that is 100% suitable for use by babies and as safe as anything that pampers has ever brought to the market before,” said Dr. Mauricio Odio with Pampers Product Safety in the same video statement supplied to the ABC15 Investigators.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission released a statement September 2nd that the agency’s investigation into Pampers Dry Max Diapers to date “has not identified any specific cause linking dry max diapers to diaper rash."
Data collected by the agency and provided to the ABC15 Investigators shows a dramatic increase in the number of diaper related complaints starting in January of 2010, including 57 injuries reported in Arizona.
Data collected by the agency shows a dramatic increase in the number of diaper related complaints starting in January of 2010, including 57 injuries reported in Arizona.
The largest numbers of injuries reported in the United States occurred in April and May following the official launch of the product in March.
CPSC records supplied to ABC15 did not distinguish which brand of diapers received the most complaints.
The CPSC said it “…cannot rule out that there may exist a health concern for some babies."
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