Parabens
This was posted on Sep 14th, 2008 by kate and tagged in Body Wellness
This is Kate from Health and Beauty here, and I wanted to take a moment to remind everybody about a toxic little group common bodycare ingredients known as parabens.
Parabens are incredibly cheap preservatives used in many conventional and unfortunately, so-called natural products. Some common ones that you will see the most are propyparaben, methylparaben, butylparaben, and ethylparaben.
It has been scientifically proven that parabens emulate estrogen activity in the body, acting somewhat as an “estrogen mimicker”. As we all know, hormone balance is extremely important to human health and even slight changes in that balance can cause an array of health problems.
“The recently discovered estrogenic effects of certain synthetic chemicals, such as the parabens, and their subsequent effects on the endocrine system of humans and wildlife, is of growing concern—especially in relation to women’s risk of breast cancer. Reproductive abnormalities in young boys exposed to such chemicals either prior to puberty or as fetuses also may increase risk for undescended testicles, testicular cancer, sperm abnormalities and prostate disorders.” (http://organicanews.com/news/article.cfm?story_id=5)
Until recently, parabens were thought to be safe and many companies denied scientific claims supporting the risk of potential danger. However, in the last three years, parabens were made illegal in the European Union. At that point, the Nourish Department at Ellwood Thompson’s decided to take action. Over the course of several months, every product containing parabens was removed from the shelf. Our buyers engage in endless research to bring the newest, cleanest bodycare products available on the market into our store so that they are available to the most important part of our business, our customers.
I wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone Ellwood Thompson’s remains the only retailer in Richmond which is 100% paraben free. So come in and check out some of the hottest new items from Pure& Basic, Dr. Hauschka, Ikove, Zeep, and Humphrey’s Witch Hazel.
Hi Kate,
Great blog about parabens.
I think the problem with these chemicals is that there hasn’t been a definitive study that definitely proves they are harmful.
However, most companies will claim that the tiny amount of parabens in their products won’t disrupt your hormones or contribute to breast cancer - but that ignores the daily exposure to parabens in many many products combined with a whole host of other chemicals.
It is safe to say that no-one knows what prolongued exposure to a cocktail of chemicals over a period of 20 years or more can do to the body.
I’ll declare my interest - I work for Pai Skincare - we make a range of 100% natural (Soil Association certified) skin care products. We don’t use any nasty chemicals or preservatives.
Our products are primarily aimed at women who have developed hyper-sensitive skin and cannot use “mainstream” cosmetic products due to damage to their immune system (whether caused by chemicals in their cosmetics or from other factors).
Unfortunately the EU hasn’t made Parabens illegal - nor have they banned companies from describing their products as “organic or “natural”, even if they contain a whole host of noixious chemicals.
Indeed, Liz Earle makes a strong argument that products without preservatives are more harmful than those with Parabens. This does ignore the fact that there are lots of effective and natural preservatives out there…but it is worth reading her argument for balance:
http://uk.lizearle.com/index_2.php?userpage=factsheetpreserve
Regards,
Ed
This was posted on Sep 15th, 2008 at 10:43pm by Ed, London.