Paraben There, Done That, and Doing It No More

While we spend much of our shopping time scrutinizing possible purchases for any potential hazards hiding inside them, lately many consumers have been noting what’s not inside a growing number of products. The declaration “paraben-free” is appearing on more and more labels and that’s got people asking just what are parabens and why do an increasing number of manufacturers think they’re something to avoid?“Paraben-free” labels have been popping up on all kinds of personal care products from sunscreens to deodorants. Suddenly an ingredient many people never knew was there in the first place is missing, and products are bragging about its absence. All of which begs an important question: if not including parabens in your products is a good thing, is the fact that they were there to begin with not so?Many experts in the toxicological community think the answer is yes. They’ve been worried for years about the health effects parabens might be causing in people, and a growing chorus of researchers and others has been calling for an end to the use of these ubiquitous chemicalsParabens are the most commonly used product preservative in the United States. Check the label of almost any personal care product and the chances are you’ll find them listed. They’ve become the “go-to” preservative for thousands of products because they’re inexpensive and they exhibit what scientists call a broad spectrum of antimicrobial properties, which means they’re able to keep a wide variety of bacteria, yeasts, and fungi from growing in products that typically need a long shelf. They’re also non-irritating, non-poisonous, non-sensitizing, stable in both alkaline and acidic formulas, water soluble, and they work well in liquids as well as solids. In short, they’re perfect. There’s almost no product parabens can’t be used in, and that’s why they’ve become a standard ingredient in everything from foods to drugs to personal care items.Unfortunately, parabens appear to mimic the hormone estrogen in the human body. Researchers believe this hormonal disruption largely occurs when these compounds are absorbed through the skin rather than ingested via food or pharmaceutical products. (Available evidence suggests that the digestion process metabolizes these chemicals into compounds that are less likely to behave like estrogen.) That makes parabens a concern where personal care and cosmetics are concerned since such products are typically applied to the skin and often left there for extended periods of time, allowing maximum absorption of any chemicals they contain. Recent evidence suggests that the use of parabens in antiperspirants and deodorants may be particularly harmful. Researchers at England’s University of Reading examined a series of breast cancer tumors and discovered that 18 out of the 20 contained high concentrations of parabens. When researchers tested these parabens, molecular “fingerprints” identified them as coming from something applied to the skin rather than ingested orally and suggested that antiperspirants and deodorants were the likely source.While the design and scope of the study made it impossible to say whether or not the parabens were the cause of the tumors in question, researchers believe there is a good likelihood that a connection can be made between increased exposure to parabens via underarm products and rising incidences of breast cancer. After all, estrogen, the hormone that parabens mimic, is known to play a role in the development of breast tumors.Breast cancers are also unequally distributed in breast tissue in the general population. The human breast is divided into five separate regions. Under natural conditions, it would be expected that the breast cancers would be spread roughly evenly among these five areas. Instead, approximately 60% of all breast cancers occur in the upper outer quadrant, the zone that lies nearest the underarm. Because laboratory tests have shown that parabens in skin products are easily absorbed into the body when applied, many scientists suspect some kind of connection between underarm products that contain these chemicals and breast cancer.Future studies may very well support the wisdom of avoiding personal care and cosmetic products that contain parabens, especially those products that are applied to the skin. In the meantime, a precautionary approach is recommended. The following list of paraben identifiers will help you identify products that contain these compounds:• butylparaben or butyl paraben• butyl p-hydroxybenzoate• ethylparaben or ethyl paraben• ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate• heptylparaben or heptyl paraben• heptyl p-hydroxybenzoate• methylparaben or methyl paraben• methyl p-hydroxybenzoate• parahydroxybenzoate• parahydroxybenzoic acid or para hydroxybenzoic acid• propylparaben or propyl paraben• propyl p-hydroxybenzoateFor more information about the breast cancer study see http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/106600317/ABSTRACTscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/106600317/ABSTRACT

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