IQ 101: The Stuff in Your Stuff

I hope some if not all of you have gone through your medicine cabinets, kitchens and beauty products to see if your stuff has Triclosan.

This is part 2 in our little class about Chemicals of Interest. Again, it is entirely up to you if it is ok or not. This is just information to help you make decisions.

You must have heard about Parabens. To companies that use this, it is simply a preservative to keep the product on the shelf longer. It would be like having preservatives in your favorite drink in the supermarket.

When you look at labels, you'd probably see one or more variation of this. Again, FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) and beauty product companies will tell you it is safe to use especially when the products contain recommended concentrations. But what if you use many products that contain parabens? Would it be like having an overdose of salt intake in your overall diet?

Here are the facts.

Parabens

used to prevent the growth of microbes in cosmetic productcan be absorbed through the skin, blood and digestive system
found in biopsies from breast tumors
linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity and skin irritation
known to disrupt hormone function
found in nearly all urine samples from U.S. adults of a variety of ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds
frequently in cosmetics: ethylparaben, butylparaben, methylparaben and propylparaben
appears in well over 10,000 products
appear mostly in personal care products that contain significant amounts of water, such as shampoos, conditioners, lotions and facial and shower cleansers and scrubs
while concentration limits are recommended for each paraben, these recommendations do not account for the use of multiple parabens in a single product or for exposure to parabens from several products by a single individual.

Something to note as we move along this series. Just because you spend more money on your product does not mean you are necessarily getting something chemical free. Here is a sample list of which products contain parabens.