What's wrong with parabens?
Beauty and the chemicals | What's wrong with parabens? | Aluminium – too close for comfort? | Triclosan – killing too many germs? | Phthalates – how plastic are you?
All UK cosmetics and household products, and their ingredients, must be safety tested. The legislation includes a list of 769 chemicals which may not be included in cosmetics and it sets out maximum concentrations of 56 chemicals which can be used as preservatives, together with other restrictions on their use.
Since June 2007, companies which import or manufacture chemicals, including those used in cosmetics and household products, have been required to provide safety data on all their products, together with an assessment of risk, in order to register them under an EU-wide system for testing the effects of chemicals on human health and the environment.
Parabens are related to a chemical called benzoic acid which was discovered in the 16th century, and subsequently used to preserve products against moulds, yeasts and some bacteria. The most commonly used parabens have been methylparaben (E number, E218), ethylparaben (E214), propylparaben (E216), and butylparaben. But E216 is one of two parabens (the other being sodium propylparaben, E217) which have recently been withdrawn under revised EC regulations on food additives. While some parabens are found naturally in plants, those used as preservatives are made in the laboratory.
Recent worries about parabens are based on a series of British studies linking the chemicals to breast cancer. In one study, laboratory tests showed that parabens weakly mimic the activity of the natural female hormone, oestrogen. While all women need oestrogen, the hormone is known to help some breast tumours to grow, and part of breast cancer treatment aims to stop the effects of oestrogen.
In another study, parabens, especially methylparaben (E218), were found in 18 out of 20 samples from breast tumours. While there is no proof, it has been suggested that parabens contained in deodorant products may be absorbed through the skin under the arm and be involved in development of cancer in nearby breast tissue.
Neither of two leading cancer charities, Cancer Research UK and Breakthrough Breast Cancer, support this theory. Instead, they point out that it was a very small study, and it did not compare parabens levels in breast tissue from women who did not get breast cancer. Instead, they quote a large US study which failed to show that women who use deodorants or antiperspirants were more likely to get breast cancer.
Cancer Research UK points out that over 90% of today's deodorants and antiperspirants don't contain parabens. So if you are worried about a possible link with breast cancer, you should be able to find products which are parabens-free.
Beauty and the chemicals | What's wrong with parabens? | Aluminium – too close for comfort? | Triclosan – killing too many germs? | Phthalates – how plastic are you?
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