L’Oréal Withdraws Product With Too Much MI In It

There is a news story that L’Oréal have issued a product recall for their Ideal Moisture Dry and Sensitive Day Cream in Canada. The reason is that the level of MI in it is higher than Health Canada’s regulations allow.   This is quite a rare event – big cosmetic companies are usually pretty good at following regulations.  Unfortunately Google has not revealed the details of just how much over they were.  But the product has been on the market for three years so there is a good chance that they have simply failed to keep up with the regulations and that the product was legal when formulated and launched.  They have shifted just under 60,000 units.  

I picked this story up from a blog that campaigns against MI, which of course they are perfectly entitled to do.  But I don’t think that this case provides them with much ammunition.  The problem was picked up by L’Oréal themselves, not the authorities and certainly not one of the self appointed consumer advocate groups.  There were no reported reactions to the product.  This might come as a surprise to people who think that MI is a chemical that provokes a lot of them.  The plain fact is that isn’t.  The large numbers of reactions that are reported to it are the result of its wide use, not the material itself.  This isn’t to minimise the very real suffering of people who do react to it – and any of us could join that group at any time – but it doesn’t do any good to exaggerate its incidence.  You can only make good decisions on accurate data.

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This doesn’t mean that L’Oréal shouldn’t do everything in their power to prevent the same thing happening again.  The problem with this preservative is its overuse.  Using more than the rules allow is making a bad situation even worse.  Although nobody has reported a reaction to this particular product it isn’t impossible that somebody somewhere might go on to develop a sensitivity to it that they wouldn’t otherwise have done.  They should definitely be looking at their procedures and seeing how this mistake came to be made.

(I have a standard disclaimer about Amazon product links, but I think it is particularly clear in this case that I am not swayed by any hope of monetary reward from this review – its just a handy way to get images that you can use without running into copyright problems.)




L’Oreal Ideal Moisture Dry and Sensitive Day Cream Recalled

5 thoughts on “L’Oréal Withdraws Product With Too Much MI In It”

  1. Hi.
    Looking for product like sampo, soap and..with no :
    METHYL isothiazoline
    Chlormethylisothiazolinon
    How can get?
    Thanks

  2. Be aware – Oasis hair wax contains a lot of MI. After months of suffering an allergic reaction on my hands i went for a patch test.
    MI that is part of the Kathon allergen, shows a positive reaction.

  3. Jennifer McWethy

    Does Loreal still use some MI in Revitalift? I had a horrible reaction recently (2017) and had burns that still have not healed! I used the eye cream and it is still peeling months later. I used on my face and have a perpetually scabby area.

  4. Can people tell me what their reactions were? I currently have an allergy to “something”. My Ig levels are currently 283 (range is 1-100). I have tried all sorts of creams from the GP (none work) and 180mg of antihistamine daily (also not working). I have an awful itchy skin, mainly on my arms and now working its way towards my arm pits. Sometimes on my lower back in the mornings. After I have scratched, my skin feels like it is on fire and I am left with a clear liquid coming out of the scabs (sometimes). Any ideas anyone? Desperate to find a solution.

    1. There’s only one tool available, which is to get your GP to refer you to a dermatologist for a patch test. It could be literally anything. I have a very mild reaction to the enzyme in biological soap powders which affects roughly the same areas of my body, which might be a clue though there are plenty of other possible allergens out there.

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