By Jodi D LaBossiere
Recently I have had a lot of people ask me about Parabens. It appears that they have been getting a bad name as of late because of some misinformation, and some serious marketing.
First of all let me just say that parabens are perfectly safe. Anyone who thinks they are cancer causing in any way shape or form is just grossly misinformed.
What exactly are parabens you ask? Parabens are a class of preservatives (ingredients that help prevent microbial contamination) that have been used in a wide variety of foods, drugs, and cosmetics and keep products safe. Parabens have a long history of use in these products, and have been specifically recognized as safe by the US Food and Drug Administration.
So what’s all the hoopla?! Long story short the majority of bad press came from a small study by Dabre et al published in 2004 that showed the presence of parabens in the breast tissue of women who had diagnoses of breast cancer. Almost immediately the media and a few self proclaimed experts made the conclusion that parabens cause breast cancer and that cosmetics were the source of these parabens.
You’re probably thinking OMG! I must through away everything with a paraben in it! Right? Wrong!
The truth is the study couldn’t conclude anything. First of all they only took samples from women with breast cancer. I know your sitting there thinking exactly, and they all had parabens in their breast tissue! So ergo parabens caused the breast cancer! (See how these things get legs?!)
Let’s go back a paragraph or two… Remember the part about parabens being used safely in “Drugs” to prevent microbial contamination? Do you think that the women with breast cancer may have been taking any kind of drugs in conjunction with their cancer treatment? Of Course.
The other problem with this study was they didn’t look at any healthy breast tissue. there was absolutely nothing to compare it to. There was no control group. In short there were too many variables. The conclusion was utterly ridiculous. That would be like me saying I looked at 20 people with tongue cancer, and their tongues were all purple because they drank grape juice and then concluding grape juice causes cancer of the tongue. You would look at me like I was on glue! (you would)
I bet you’re asking yourself if parabens are safe then why all of the bad press? Simple, there was a marketing opportunity for companies to scare you into thinking if you use parabens you’ll get sick, but if you use their “Paraben Free” product you’ll be healthy.