Four brand products such as Pantene were detected as first-class carcinogens, and P&G was urgently recalled, not involving the Chinese market

The old brand Pantene has also "overturned"!

Recently, Procter & Gamble issued an announcement that due to the detection of carcinogen benzene, it is actively recalling a variety of spray care products of four brands such as Pantene produced in the United States, including Pantene, Plant Sense Philosophy, Australian Silk Kangaroo and Waterless.

Procter & Gamble said in the announcement that benzene is not an ingredient in any spray product, but they recently detected "unexpected levels of benzene" after the product was sprayed out of the bottle.

P&G said it has not received any reports of adverse events related to the recall so far. The amount of benzene detected in daily exposure products is not expected to have a negative health impact. However, out of caution, the recall is underway.

The relevant person in charge of Procter & Gamble China responded that the recall only involves some dry hair spray products in North America, not the Chinese market. All products sold in the Chinese market comply with relevant national standards.

According to Reuters, these recalled products are also sold in Canada and will be recalled at the same time. On November 23, Procter & Gamble announced a recall of some of the antiperspirant sprays sold in the United States due to the detection of benzene in its products.

According to the data, benzene is an organic compound, is the simplest aromatic hydrocarbon, at room temperature for sweet, flammable, carcinogenic toxicity of colorless transparent liquid, easy to occur, with a strong aromatic odor, people and animals through breathing, oral and skin contact with benzene, will lead to cancer. On October 27, 2017, benzene was listed as a class of carcinogens by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer, with teratogenicity and certain acute toxicity.

Excessive exposure to benzene can cause dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath and other symptoms, and in severe cases, may cause confusion. People who are often exposed to benzene also have certain occupational diseases, and the most concerned is leukemia. Studies have shown that benzene can be directly reached through the bone marrow through blood circulation, resulting in leukemia, such as long-term exposure to gasoline, paint and other substances, the probability of leukemia is 3-7 times that of ordinary people, and they need to wear protective clothing. At present, many products on the market have replaced benzene with less toxic raw materials such as toluene and xylene.

In the field of personal care, "rollover" incidents are often there. Previously, Consumer Reports detected 4 types of lip balm containing phenol, including product ingredient labels and import filing information showing carmex small honey repair lipstick (tube packing) and Blistex blue lip repair lip balm (international version) that do not contain phenol, and the detection amount is not low, respectively, 3969μg /g, 564μg/g, which does not meet the requirements of China's cosmetics, so it was rated as a substandard product by "Consumer Report".

Specific to Procter & Gamble, carcinogens have been detected in its personal care products, which is not the first time that P&G's brands have been encountered. In 2017, the Hong Kong Consumer Council held a press conference in choice magazine and published test reports on 60 shampoos on the market. According to the report, more than 60% of shampoos have been detected with dioxane, and 7 shampoos have dioxane content exceeding the 10 ppm safety level recommended by the European Union's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS). Procter & Gamble's brand products accounted for 6 of the 7 seats, involving Sassoon, Pantene, Ikalu and Haifeisi 4 brand products.

Dioxane is a colorless, transparent liquid with a slight ether-like, fragrant odor that is slightly toxic, irritating to the skin, eyes and respiratory system, and may cause damage to the liver, kidneys and nervous system. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) lists dioxanes as Class 2B, i.e. less potentially carcinogenic to humans but known to be carcinogenic to animals.

It is worth noting that as a multinational daily chemical giant, P&G's current worries are also a bit much.

At the end of July, P&G released its fourth quarter and full fiscal year 2021 results. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, Bao Cleansing's sales increased by 7% year-on-year to US$18.946 billion (approximately RMB122.421 billion), and net profit increased by 4% year-on-year to US$2.906 billion (approximately RMB18.777 billion). Throughout fiscal 2021, Bao Cleansing's sales were US$76.118 billion (about RMB491.844 billion), an increase of 7% year-on-year, and net profit was US$14.306 billion (about RMB92.44 billion), an increase of 10% year-on-year.

The above-mentioned slight growth has been the best performance of Procter & Gamble's operating performance in recent years, in other words, P&G's development over the past few years has always been at a low ebb. Since 2013, P&G has shown weakness in the global market, and from 2014 to 2019, its global net sales fell from $74.4 billion in 2014 to $65.1 billion in 2017.

In October this year, Procter & Gamble announced the third quarter ended September this year, the company's first fiscal quarter of fiscal 2022, the quarterly revenue increased by 5% year-on-year to $20.3 billion, of which the prices of the five major business segments rose by 1% overall, but due to the 13% higher cost of sales, net profit of $4.126 billion was still down 4% year-on-year, and the adjusted EPS was still down 1% year-on-year.

In order to maintain growth, P&G has begun a price increase strategy. After the Q1 earnings release, Andre Shulten, P&G's chief financial officer, said on a conference call that in response to inflation, P&G will raise the price of certain products for beauty, oral care and shaving care. In fact, in April this year, Procter & Gamble announced that it would raise prices for baby care, women's care and adult care products starting in the fall to cope with the pressure of rising commodity costs. Earlier, in 2019, Procter & Gamble had raised the price of Pampers products in the North American market by 4%, and the price of the three major tissue brands of Bounty, Charmin and Puffs had been raised by an average of 5%.

At a time of stagnant growth, any negative event that hurts the brand's image will make the brand's next road more bumpy.

(Titanium Media App Editor Yang Yaru Comprehensive CCTV Finance, Economic Observer, etc.)