Question from SARA
Hello Debra,
My name is Ines and the story I am about to tell you is truly horrible.
I am a victim of the false advertising of piggy paint, which was what lead me to your article. My 4 year old daughter almost died because she accidentally ingested piggy paint. But it wasn’t the chemicals that affected her…it was the NEEM OIL!!!!!
I originally bought the product because the founder advertised that her kids put their hands in their mouths all the time and that’s why she created the product.
I desperately need more help because the research in this is so limited. I am worried that something can happen to another child.
The symptoms include drowsiness, lethargy, seizures, respiratory arrest which can lead to death and coma. I do not understand why neem oil would be in a product advertised for children since it is known to be hazardous even for pregnant women. If you can help me in any way I would be very grateful. Thank you for you article as well.
Debra’s Answer
I agree with you that neem oil should not be in a product where it is expected that children would put it in their mouths.
Here is the neem oil side effects list from WebMD:
What kind of help do you need? Is your daughter OK now?
Hi Debra,
One of our bloggers sent us a link to the following: http://debralynndadd.com/q-a/neem-oil-may-be-toxic/. I hope that this child is okay and it always breaks my heart when a child is sick. We did find it concerning as we haven’t heard about this particular incident or had any negative comments about the neem oil present in our polish until this post. We switched to neem oil as a preservative in Piggy Paint about 3 years ago, in an effort to use the safest, most natural preservative available. Neem oil is present in our polish at a level of 50 parts per million, so at a minuscule level. In order for someone to ingest just 1 teaspoon of neem oil from our polish, that person would have to drink 625 of our 0.5 oz. bottles or 2,678 bottles of our mini polishes.
If you refer to the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database, neem oil scores a 0 rating, which is very lowest ingredient hazard score they assign. Every single ingredient in our polish, including neem oil, has passed multiple Toxicological Risk Assessments by third party laboratories that classify our polish as non-toxic.
Thanks again for your commitment to promoting safe, toxic free products. Piggy Paint was founded on this same principle. Merry Christmas.