Kristen gillibrand

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (left) takes the oath of office.

Bath-time basics: soap, water ... formaldehyde? A recent study finds carcinogens in baby-care products, and New York's Senator Kirsten Gillibrand responds with legislation to ensure that products are safe. We caught up with the senator to find out what she's doing to make bathtime safe again.

By Lexy Schmertz

Are we exposing our kids to harmful chemicals in the bathtub? Turns out that many common baby shampoos and bubble baths contain known carcinogens—formaldehyde and 1,4 dioxane, according to a recent study by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.

Even more shocking is that the same companies that tout their products as "gentle" and "pure" are not required by the Food and Drug Administration to list these harmful chemicals, because they aren't considered ingredients in the products, but rather contaminants that develop post-manufacturing. Common preservatives release formaldehyde over time, according to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. And 1,4 dioxane is a by-product of a chemical-processing technique called ethoxylation, in which cosmetic ingredients are processed with ethylene oxide.