Share Article Are parabens safe in beauty products?
Parabens occur naturally in fruits to fight against moulds. But are they safe in beauty products?This is not the first time we've tackled the paraben debate, but in view of increasing scaremongering on both sides of the debate, coupled with new evidence coming to light, it's timely to share our standpoint on parabens and invite our readers to get involved in the debate. Our key question is: Are parabens safe to use in beauty products?
In the first of our Cosmetic Safety features, the spotlight is on parabens, one of the most contentious ingredients. In a scientific nutshell, parabens are a group of alkyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, commonly used as antimicrobial preservatives in cosmetic, food and pharmaceutical products.
We are in daily contact with parabens, not least because they occur naturally, in apples for instance. But their synthetic, nature identical counterparts are also widely found in different toiletries and cosmetics, from shampoo, conditioner, facial cleanser to fake tan, toothpaste and deodorants.
Synthetic parabens are widely in use as they are known to act as effective preservatives against mould and yeasts, are practically pH neutral, do not cause product discolouration and they cost little to use. What's more, the European Cosmetics Directive deem parabens to be safe, with a maximum concentration of each one of 0.4% and a total maximum concentration of 0.8%. So if parabens are supposedly safe, why all the fuss?
Parabens have attracted considerable controversy in recent years, with scare stories like 'Killer Cosmetics' and 'Toxic Toiletries' making the headlines. The controversy centres around the claimed link between parabens and breast cancer. The link has been aroused by several findings:
- We apply a lot of topical treatments around the breast and upper chest area... think deodorants, body creams, sun tanning lotions, body sprays, on a frequent basis, allowing for cumulative exposure;
- The commonly used paraben esters, nearly ubiquitous in the above products, have now been shown to possess oestrogenic activity (1);
- Many scientific, evidence-based studies confirm that oestrogen plays a pivotal role in the development, progression and treatment of breast cancer (2);
- Intact paraben esters have been found in human breast cancer tissues and therefore are absorbed by our bodies and escape metabolism/breakdown (3).
These claims are highly disputed by the pro-paraben camp. For instance...
- The key scientific study demonstrating the coupled presence of parabens in breast cancer tissue was undermined as the blank controls in the study also had faint microscopic traces of parabens... probably due to parabens contained in cleaning detergents;
- Parabens are found in nature's larder, and the presence of parabens does not necessarily mean they are derived from beauty products, instead they could come from the food we eat;
- To quote Estee Lauder as the general stance taken "Proof of presence does not necessarily indicate proof of cause or harm."
- The oestrogenic or hormone disrupting effect of parabens are too mild to affect human health.
Now before you run out to load up your beauty cabinets with paraben products thinking they are safe, let's address the pro-paraben camp's lines of defence one by one.
Firstly, the scientific study indicating the presence of parabens in breast cancer tissue needs to be replicated, with a robust scientific control. Why hasn't this happened? More importantly, other groups (e.g. 4, 5) have found that paraben esters can remain intact once absorbed as indicated in human urine samples. In other words they are not completely broken down by skin esterases if applied dermally, or by our intestine/liver metabolic processes if ingested. This leads us to the second line of defense - the source of the parabens.
The pro-paraben camp claim that just because parabens have been found in body tissues, it doesn't mean they are necessarily derived from topical cosmetics. Rather, they say they could be the result of ingesting an apple let's say, as they contain natural parabens. According to NOW Foods, "The total consumption of parabens from all sources (via cosmetics and personal care products, food and pharmaceuticals) is estimated as about 77.5mg/day, with food accounting for approximately 2.5mg/day, cosmetics and personal care products 50mg/day and drugs 25mg/day." So while absorbed paraben esters may come from food, in light of this it appears the bulk of them are delivered via cosmetics.
Proof of presence does not provide proof of cause of harm? Well, simply put, it doesn't rule it out either!
As for the oestrogenic effect of parabens, this is where it gets very complex, and the jury seems to be out and many are calling for more research. Whether parabens are oestrogenic is not in dispute. Instead it's the extent to which they are. Nonetheless we are intrigued by the recent results of an in vitro test performed recently by Dr Philippa Darbre at Reading University.
Via Dr Barbara Olioso, the clever lady behind natural skincare brand, Forest Secrets, the results, while in vitro, definitely demand a closer look, and more replication across a wider range of parabens. The study was simple: breast cancer cells were incubated for 4 days with and without 0.00019% isobutylparaben. The results, pictured below, indicate the breast cancer cells before the incubation (left) and after the incubation without (middle) and with isobutylparaben (right).
Now my pre-schooler, who loves to play spot the difference, can easily, like you, spot that the sample incubated with a member of the paraben group has clearly accelerated the growth of cancer cells. This results demands replication, and tested with other parabens too. In our opinion, this study, and plenty of others, places a question mark over the safety of parabens. For us, the jury is still out.
Let's take a step back. Why is it that the beauty industry and regulators still claim that parabens are unquestionably safe? To answer this, we need to look at their evidence-base. Toxicology studies, here and elsewhere in industrial chemistry, tend to suffer from a blind spot when it comes the chemical stew we are exposed to over the course of our lifetimes. The current gold standard is assessing the tissue damage from exposure to a single chemical over a limited time. So what's wrong with this?
Over our lifetimes, we are exposed to a cocktail of chemicals and as such the current evidence-base supporting the pro-paraben camp fails to look at the synergistic effect of this chemical stew we are bombarded with. Secondly, the current gold standard fails to look at the lifelong, cumulative exposure to "safe" chemicals.
Until toxicology embraces a new standard for realistic robust safety testing of chemicals, synthetic or natural, then no-one can unequivocally state that parabens are 100% safe in cosmetic and personal care products.
But that's exactly what the pro-paraben camp claim. Unexpectedly, we even found this claim on Liz Earle's blog, surprising in that this high profile brand is famous for being 'naturally active' ... Liz Earle's answer to whether parabens are dangerous? "it is a total and unequivocal No!".
What's more, at the beginning of this special feature, we mentioned there has been scaremongering on both sides of the debate. In view of the above, are beauty products killers or toxic? Perhaps. But if the pro-paraben camp hold such scaremongering in disdain, why do they participate in it themselves. Again, according to Liz Earle: "We must seriously hope that no-one ends up getting hurt by using toxic skincare – not toxic because it contains preservatives, but toxic because it doesn’t."
What's becoming increasingly clear is that there are a number of effective natural preservatives that perform equally well. Margo Marrone, the founder of the highly respected organic brand, The Organic Pharmacy, told us "Our natural preservatives are Japanese Honeysuckle, Essential oils of tea tree and other essential oils, lactic acid (the acid present in milk) and organic alcohol. A combination of these gives very effective preservative systems. The problem with parabens are the hormone disrupting aspect which can be absorbed through the skin and have shown an oestrogenic action in the body. Even companies who claim to use naturally sourced parabens still should avoid it as the end molecule has the same detrimental activity."
Having personally used natural skincare and cosmetic products for many years, it is without a doubt that these natural, paraben-free preservatives do the preservative job nicely, without the threat of potential oestrogen agonist behaviour. But they are more expensive (remember, parabens are cheap), so this may well be the reason so many of the beauty giants want to cling to the belief that parabens are "safe".
And there's one more point we'd like to make before we wrap this up and invite an open debate. Even if most of the parabens aren't absorbed and wash off, they don't miraculously disappear down the plug hole. Our wastewater system is laden with synthetic chemicals, and while treated to "safe" levels, heavy doses of nutrients and chemicals still end up in our waterways and harm ecosystem health. I should know. I spent countless hours of my life submerged in sewage-polluted waters measuring the impacts. Do we really want this synthetic chemical stew disrupting plant and animal life too? Can the pro-paraben camp truly say their ingredients are safe?
As we feel the jury is still out, The GIN Lady magazine will adhere to the Precautionary Principal. Playing it safe, with natural non-oestrogenic agonist preservatives, is our chosen course of action until the evidence proves otherwise. What do you think?
References:
1. Harvey PW, Darbre P. 2004. Endocrine disrupters and human health: could oestrogenic chemicals in bodycare cosmetics adversely affect breast cancer incidence in women? A review of evidence and call for
further research. J. Appl. Toxicol. 24: 167–176.
2. Lonning PE (ed.). 2004. Endocrinology and treatment of breast cancer. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 18: 1–130.
3. Darbre PD, Aljarrah A, Miller WR, Coldham NG, Sauer MJ, Pope GS. 2004a. Concentrations of parabens in human breast tumours. J. Appl. Toxicol. 24: 5–13.
4. Ye X, Bishop AM, Reidy JA, Needham LL, Calafat AM. 2006a. Parabens as urinary biomarkers of exposure in humans. Environ. Health Perspect. 114: 1843–1846.
5. Ye X, Kuklenyik Z, Bishop AM, Needham LL, Calafat AM. 2006b. Quantification of the urinary concentrations of parabens in humans by on-line solid phase extraction–high performance liquid chromatography–isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry. J. Chromatogr. B Analyt. Technol. Biomed. Life Sci. 844: 53–59.
