The Green Beauty Guide

Admit it: we want our cosmetics to stay fresh until we finish the bottle or a jar. There’s nothing funny about cream going rancid or mascara smelling foul. But while keeping bacteria off, preservatives themselves often act as toxins they are supposed to prevent from forming. What’s worse, they may trigger some of the most common forms of cancer, and they target mostly women. Let’s take a look at paraben preservatives since they are most ubiquitous.

Parabens, known as esters of para-hydroxybenzoic acid, include methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben. Less common parabens include isobutylparaben, isopropylparaben, benzylparaben and their sodium salts. Parabens are rapidly absorbed, metabolized, and excreted, but a certain amount of parabens remains stored in human body triggering a number of health conditions.

Parabens and Breast Cancer

In the body parabens mimic our own hormones and disrupt the endocrine system. The hypothalamus, the ovaries, the thyroid—parabens affect virtually every system, even though their action is much milder than that of natural estrogens and other xenoestrogens (synthetic estrogens that mimic natural hormones).

Several years ago parabens, due to their estrogenic activity, were found to cause increased uterine growth in animals. The same study first linked parabens to proliferation of two estrogen-dependent human breast cancer cells. Two years later, parabens were found in breast milk and breast cancer tumors. British scientists found parabens in breast cancer tumors of 19 out of 20 women with breast cancer. (Concentrations of parabens in human breast tumours.Darbre PD, Aljarrah A, Miller WR, Coldham NG, Sauer MJ, Pope GS. Journal of Applied Toxicology. 2004 Jan-Feb;24(1):5-13. ) This study, actively criticized by chemical industry and synthetic beauty proponents, proves the ability of paraben preservatives to penetrate the skin and accumulate in living tissue, such as breasts.

More recently, methylparaben, and butylparaben were found to act similar to and 17beta-oestradiol, but they were much weaker.  (Comparison of the global gene expression profiles produced by methylparaben, n-butylparaben and 17beta-oestradiol in MCF7 human breast cancer cells. Pugazhendhi D, Sadler AJ, Darbre PD. Journal of Applied Toxicology. 2007 Jan-Feb;27(1):67-77.) Let’s don’t forget that we are exposed to parabens from a number of sources every day, so the dose we receive over years may be quite significant.

 “The presence of intact paraben esters in human body tissues has now been confirmed by independent measurements in human urine, and the ability of parabens to penetrate human skin intact without breakdown by esterases and to be absorbed systemically has been demonstrated through studies not only in vitro but also in vivo using healthy human subjects,” reported Dr. Philippa Darbre, the scientist from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom in May 2008 issue of Journal of Applied Toxicology (Paraben esters: review of recent studies of endocrine toxicity, absorption, esterase and human exposure, and discussion of potential human health risks. Darbre PD, Harvey PW. Journal of Applied Toxicology. 2008 May 16.)

Parabens and Cancer in Animals

In 1997 study, metylparaben was found to cause uterine cancer in animals (RTECS- Environmental Research 1997). In 1984 Russian scientists found that parabens caused renal failure in rats (Gigiena Truda i Professional’nye Zabolevaniya 1984). Butylparaben caused decreased sperm count, testes abnormalities and other reproductive organs in animals (Archives of Toxicology 2002).

Parabens and Melanoma

In the 2008 study on parabens, Dr. Darbre also found that paraben preservatives  not only increase the risk for breast cancer but also “interfere with male reproductive functions and influence development of malignant melanoma.”

Parabens and Skin Allergy

According to human tests done by British Contact Dermatitis Society, “parabens mix has the highest irritancy rate,” almost the same as formaldehyde. (Contact sensitivity to preservatives in the UK, 2004-2005: results of multicentre study. Jong, Statham, Green et al. Contact Dermatitis. 2007 Sep;57(3):165-8. )

Parabens Are Here to Stay

The American Cancer Society insists that parabens are perfectly safe from an oncologist’s point of view. The cosmetic industry’s panel, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) reviewed the safety of methylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben in 1984 and concluded they were safe for use in cosmetic products at levels of up to 25 per cent of the finished product.

However, not a single study has yet focused on chronic, decades-long, direct exposure to parabens that act synergistically with other xenoestrogens and the body’s own estrogens.

As science moves forward, the use of parabens, often disguised by tongue-twisting names such as benzoic acid, isobutyl p-hydroxybenzoate, or p-methoxycarbonylphenol, has been strictly regulated in European-made cosmetics, and current European Union legislation allows their use only in extremely weak concentrations. It is unlikely that parabens will be removed from cosmetics sold in the U.S. any time soon. There is strong support of parabens use coming from the chemical industry, especially preservative suppliers, which is very understandable.

Green Beauty Solution

Avoid using cosmetics containing any parabens, especially antiperspirants and body lotions applied to the breast area. “The breast is exposed to a range of oestrogenic chemicals applied as cosmetics to the underarm and breast area,” Dr. Darbre wrote, “These cosmetics are left on the skin in the appropriate area, allowing a more direct dermal absorption route for breast exposure to oestrogenic chemicals and allowing absorbed chemicals to escape systemic metabolism.” Simply put, save your breast from anything that can penetrate and accumulate in the breast tissue, including aluminum salts, artificial fragrances and paraben preservatives. Needless to say, run not walk from parabens if you are pregnant breastfeeding.