Who benefits from danger of parabens?

It is almost a decade already that we hear escalated debates about how dangerous the parabens and their derivatives are, such as preservatives in food and cosmetics , as well as SLS ( sodium lauryl sulfate), one of the types of parabens.

Even though global reputative studies one after another refute carcinogenicity and danger of these substances in those insignificant doses in which they are added to cosmetics, still from time to time we hear the new "sensational discoveries."

An ordinary consumer, mislead by another scandals , intrigues, investigations of the terrible dangers of parabens and surfactants rushes to read labels on all his product packages and freezes in disbelief. It turns out that you are supposed to throw away nearly all of the content of your bathroom mirror medicine cabinet! But there are also parabens in food ! So how come are we still alive?


If you throw away all your cosmetics on parabens, you need to buy another ones. This is actually the primitive purpose of this intimidation, as it has long been known that the media is subject to the interest of large business.

The fact is that parabens, being cheap and easily available conservants allow even small cosmetic companies to develop their businesses. And what will happen if you ban all parabens or intimidate consumers?


Right, the only ones who won't be drown will be some cosmetic giant companies who can afford to put into production some expensive new conservants, and you won't even know if those new substances are as safe as the well studied beyond and across parabens.

This strategy of "intimidating" the shoppers already beared fruit. For example, in Denmark, in cosmetics for children up to 3 years the use of parabens is prohibited. But they do not specify what kind of conservants are being used instead.

The danger of parabens is confirmed from time to time by written articles specially ordered by big manufacturers of "natural" cosmetics, who sell expensive jars labeled "eco" and "bio" which are becoming very popular today. But let's not  forget that even for natural cosmetics, preservatives are also needed, otherwise your cream would get rotten in 2 weeks even if you store it properly.

Parabens are used for industrial food preservation since 1925 , after the bacteriologists proved its broad anti-bacterial action. Parabens are complex esters of para- hydroxybenzoic acid , which scientists have learned to produce quite cheap  in the laboratory for about 100 years ago. After they proved their effectiveness in food industry they moved in the cosmetic industry and medicine. Most medicines (creams , emulsions , suspensions , ointments , etc) are composed of parabens.

Studies that parabens can cause breast cancer after using antiperspirants or influence the hormonal background of men or women simply have not been confirmed , and till today in the U.S., the EU , and even in Japan, which is famous for its rigid consumer norms, parabens as preservatives are allowed in certain concentration doses.

Derivatives of parabens (methyl , ethyl , butyl , propyl parabens) that help to reduce concentration of usual parabens thanks to effective formulas are  continuously explored in many laboratories around the world. For example, in Japan , in the study by Professor Toshikazu Yoshikawa , it was found that the skin coated with cream with the usual content of methyl paraben , under UV light 12 hours lost 12% more living cells than without the use of cosmetics. But we rarely spend under the open sun 12 hours, and the open sun is more dangerous to skin than methylparaben in the cream. Also methylparaben completely evaporates from the skin surface within 24 hours ( even if you don't wash it off with water) .

Parabens like any food product, not to mention chemical substancies, may cause allergy in terms of individual intolerance. In this case, you really should not use cosmetics labeled "paraben". In other cases, cosmetics with parabens and their derivatives do not threaten our health nor our purses because  "paraben free" cosmetics is 90% commercial trick.

The same excitement can be seen with the SLS - substances.

This conventional surfactants derived from palm oil, which are widely used in industry for cleaning different surfaces from grease and dirt , and in the production of practically all "foaming - cleaning" products.

Indeed, SLS is used in laboratories for skin irritation , but the concentration of the pure substance and additives in a shampoo differs in thousand times. Besides, we do not sit for hours smeared with liquid soap or bath foam.

SLS-substances have very large molecules that can not penetrate into the deeper layers of human skin, that's why they are easy to wash off from the surface without being carcinogens so these shampoos are safe for our health.

Certainly , SLS may also cause dermatitis , irritation and dryness, but it is rather isolated cases than epidemic "poisoning" . In this case , if the shampoo with SLS causes dry scalp or dandruff, it does not mean that these substances are hazardous to health, you just need to search for product with other types of surfactants.

As a conclusion, the so-called danger of parabens often has as its goal the satisfaction of interests of major players in the multibillion dollar market of cosmetic products and the consumers should not be fooled by suspecious and specially ordered surveys or studies.

In any case , after reading another "horror story" about the dangers of parabens, SLS or any other components of cosmetics or food we should not throw away our favorite jars in the trash and just think calmly and try to figure out who can benefit from it.