Parabens. (Que the horror music sound effect) Just say the word to anyone on the street and you will get a variety of responses. Many believe what they have heard and warn you against using any products that contain them and many just want to wait until science proves that parabens are really harmful to you, as that is not proven yet. It just seems that these days the words parabens and cancer go hand in hand without any conclusive evidence that they actually do. I like to make sure I'm not subscribing to a lobbyist who has ulterior motives for financial gain, and no I'm not a conspiracy freak, (ok maybe just a tad) I was recently told (by my therapist) that that quality is at the heart of all good journalists... a desire to dig for the real truth... or conspiracy!
I’m certainly not a scientist, but I am pretty educated and try to always read both sides to a story. Just like when everyone screamed that mineral oil was bad for you, it eventually was proven that it was not. However, you still find many companies today touting how awful mineral oil is for your skin while offering you their version of something safer. I have yet to find a website stating that mineral oil is harmful while not trying to also sell you something in the process. I had been skeptical myself, but after some researching of my own and contacting my friends at The Beauty Brains blog (who happen to be both cosmetic chemists with 30 years experience), they insisted it was all hype and that mineral oil was indeed the best moisturizing product for your skin. So I have learned to look deeper into an issue than to be frightened by scare tactics.
Unfortunately, scare tactics are the route that Dr. Epstein of the Cancer Prevention Coalition is taking when going after Origins, an Estee Lauder company. They try pointing out that Origins cannot be taking, "A totally integrative approach to skin care ... to help your skin be as healthy as possible, (and) optimize its defenses against age accelerators" claiming that Origins uses parabens (among other ingredients) in their products. They site that parabens are known to cause “endocrine disruptive.” However, there has not yet been one study that has conclusively, 100% proven this.
The paraben scare comes from a study done of breast tissue that had been revealed to contain parabens in it. However the study, then and now, never proved that parabens cause cancer; that they are harmful in any way and the study did not look at possible paraben levels in normal tissue. Even the American Cancer Society states that there is no good scientific evidence to support the claim. A study in 2004 showed that paraben levels up to 25% in cosmetic products were safe; most of the products we all use daily only contain paraben levels of 0.01-0.3% according to the FDA. An extremely minute amount only used to preserve a product and in no way should scare you from using your favorite products simply because parabens are listed among the ingredients.
Although I am sure that many more companies will give into pressure and try to please a frenzied public by finding a way to lose the parabens in their products. Will it make the product any safer? I guess we’ll really only know the answer for sure when more studies are done to prove the safety of parabens one way or the other.
What do you think?
Posted by Shannon Nelson on January 19, 2007 10:35 PM
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