Shocker.

Look at this article. I found its link via Seventh Generation's fan page on a certain social networking site. I, for one, was NOT surprised at all. I mean, wait, you're going to tell me that the Brand New Super Extra Wowie Zowie Mega Extra Dry, hold all your kid's pee from birth to Kindergarten, disposable diaper contains some nasty chemicals that are causing severe rashes in droves? Holy shit! How could that be?! I'm totally shocked! I mean, Proctor and Gamble is an awesome company that has babies' best interests in mind, right? I can hear you laughing. I'm laughing, too.

The thing that REALLY scares me is that disposable diaper companies won't disclose their ingredients, so the average consumer actually has no idea what they're putting next to their baby's skin. Of course, lab tests have been done, and they have found that these chemicals are indeed very nasty. The obvious one is the chlorine byproduct Dioxin. It is quite probably carcinogenic, and has a convincingly strong link to male factor infertility. (Yeah, you heard me. Your son could be sterile as an adult from Pampers use as a baby. Sounds great, doesn't it?)

While not an eco-friendly option by any means, if you must use disposable diapers, for the baby's sake, please use something chlorine-free, and made by a company that discloses all its ingredients so you can at least google them all and see what they do, and if there's anything harmful associated with them. Seventh Generation diapers are one brand that's like that, and I'm sure there are others as well. Try your local health food grocery. You may find many brands to choose from, and you can go from there. I know the 7th Gen are good because a cloth diapering friend of mine was unable to use cloth for the first few months of her son's life since she was staying with her in-laws while her husband was on an unaccompanied assignment in Korea, and they wouldn't allow her to do cloth diapering in their home. She used the 7th Gen diapers for that time, and was happy with them. Based on that, I know that these things actually work. Like I said, they are not an eco-friendly option, as they are not biodegradable, compostable, or anything like that. These will be in the landfill for thousands of years just like the Pampers and the Huggies, but at least you won't be exposing your baby to NEARLY the amount of crap that you would with conventional disposables. If you absolutely must use disposable diapers, at least do so wisely.