Poisonous baby wipes

Rockline Industries has been exposed for knowingly distributing contaminated baby wipes to retailers around the country while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration turned a blind eye.

Rockline, which is based in Arkansas and produces baby wipes under several brand names, was distributing products contaminated with Burkholderia cepacia, a bacterium especially harmful to anyone with a diminished immune system, according to an investigative report published in the journal Sentinel. Levels of the bacterium were thousands of times higher than FDA guidelines allow and high enough to harm someone with a healthy immune system.

Despite a letter written by whistleblowers warning federal regulators of Rockline’s poor manufacturing practices and a subsequent FDA investigation that found faulty product-testing techniques and poor sanitation standards, the government has yet to take any enforcement action.