Reality Check — Parabens & Paranoia

It’s time for a reality check, the paranoia surrounding parabens has got to stop.

The Paranoia: When you have extremely pervasive activist groups (with ulterior motives) like the EWG (Environmental Working Group) and Campaign for Safe Cosmetics screaming “parabens = cancer”, it’s not surprising that the health scare has reached urban legend proportions. But why are so many intelligent people believing information based on activist-fueled hyperbole, conjecture and bold-faced lies?

Reality Check: Parabens come in many forms and appear in the ingredient listings of cosmetic products with names like butylparaben, ethylparaben, isobutylparaben, methylparaben, or propylparaben. They are some of the safest and gentlest preservatives available. They have unfortunately set off warning bells due to their weak estrogenic activity and have been demonized by the misinterpretation of a badly flawed study (the study was later publicly retracted).

The Facts: In 2004, Dr Philippa Darbre at the University of Reading published a study in the Journal of Applied Toxicology. The study said her group performed testing on 20 different human breast tumors and found parabens in all of them. Neither she nor anyone else could explain how they got there or why they were there. This raised the question of whether the parabens could have something to do with the cancer …but it was never verified with clinical trials. And since then, there still hasn’t been a scientific explanation.
LET’S REPEAT THAT — since this study, there has been no “clinical data” supporting the claim that parabens cause cancer.

The Darbre study also neglected to report if parabens were found in the normal, non-diseased tissue surrounding the tumors.
Why is this important?
Well, if parabens are present in both normal and diseased tissue, then it stands to reason that the presence of parabens in diseased tissue is not the reason for the disease.

Of course, there were some unscrupulous people who reinterpreted what the study said to suit their agenda and began fanatically stating parabens caused breast cancer. Once this snowball of untruth started rolling down the mountain it just got bigger and BIGGER. Finally the author of the study had to officially refute what was being said (Reply to Robert Golden and Jay Gandy — Journal of Applied Toxicology, 2004)
Dr. Darbre stated, “Nowhere in the manuscript was any claim made that the presence of parabens had caused the breast cancer, indeed the measurement of a compound in a tissue cannot provide evidence of causality.’”

So, why do so many people believe parabens cause cancer?
Why do people believe ANY urban legend? Simple — everybody loves drama and urban legends provide tabloid-like scenarios which are typically titillating, taboo, dangerous or even catastrophic.
But where is this “clinical” evidence that parabens cause cancer? To date, no group has provided clinical scientific data that verifies the cancer causing claims. Many of the “studies” that people quote on the internet are based on hearsay, conjecture or blatant misinformation provided by fear-based advocacy groups. They’ve distorted the facts and created unwarranted concern over ALL preservatives, not just parabens.

So here’s the million dollar question — If paraben are so dangerous, why are they still allowed in the US, Canada, EU, Australia, Japan, etc.?
It’s true that many cosmetics companies have surrendered to public hysteria and have opted to avoid parabens because their unsubstantiated reputation as a health hazard has reached epic proportions. Cosmetics chemists are scrambling to find equally effective options, even though they acknowledge that parabens are more effective and far more reliable. The available alternatives offer diminished shelf life, less stability and invite risks that could become ACTUAL health concerns. Companies who have not surrendered to public hysteria and continue to preserve their products with parabens are actually more safety conscious because paraben preserved cosmetics are STILL among the safest products a consumers can buy.

But it’s frivolous to suggest that because more products claim to be paraben-free, that it substantiates the erroneous claims that they are dangerous. Instead, it shows that fear-based activist groups like the EWG (Environmental Working Group) and Campaign for Safe Cosmetics are needlessly and recklessly frightening the public, misinforming the media and giving fuel to shady marketing executives at natural/organic cosmetics companies. These fear-mongers have churned out acres of unsupported propaganda and turned parabens into a boogy man …it’s time we held them accountable for their lies. Even Paula Begoun, world renowned “Cosmetic Cop”, says these claims are rubbish.

Let’s Review: Although the “parabens=cancer” propaganda has people worried, there is still no clinical data proving parabens should be avoided when shopping for personal-care products …at least no more so than avoiding plants that have the same or stronger estrogenic activity.
Yes, I said PLANTS. Naturally-occurring parabens are present in certain plants to help them defend themselves against various micro-organisms and exhibit very similar preservation properties as synthetic parabens. Honeysuckle is one of the plants richest in naturally-occurring methylparaben and other plants that contain naturally-occurring parabens include: blueberries, carrots, olives and strawberries — which can all be CONSUMED without cancer causing adverse effects.
According to published scientific research from global cosmetics regulatory organizations (United States, Canada, Europe and Asia), parabens, in the small amounts present in personal-care products, do not pose a health risk. According to these studies, parabens are “fully metabolized before they enter the blood stream,” which is more than can be said for NATURAL plant extracts with estrogenic activity, but no one is trying to scare you into not eating blueberries, carrots, olives and strawberries.

In closing -
I’ve been accused of being rigid in my beliefs on this topic. People have asked why I’m not “open” to other possibilities.
I’m totally open to factual information that substantiates a claim. BUT, the catastrophic claims being made lack controlled scientific research. These claims of hazard, disease and possible death are all based on conjecture, with no clinical data to back them up.

I’m being asked to believe that these cosmetic ingredients potentially CAUSE DEATH…just because activist groups say so? With absolutely no clinical data to back up their claims?
Sorry, that’s not going to happen.
This is not a religious debate where the word “belief’ takes on an entirely different meaning. This is a scientific debate and “beliefs” must be backed up with fact, not conjecture.

BTW… Many companies put their products in plastic containers. Were you aware that plastic contains plasticizers which are clinically proven to be endocrine disruptors. If this is true, shouldn’t we be looking at the packaging more than the parabens?
But that’s a topic for another day…