Scared of Paraben? Don't be.

Despite of what government agencies and reputable organizations assure us with regards to the safety of parabens in cosmetics, the proliferation of blogs advocating the naturalistic fallacy still breathes life into a paraben controversy which should not have been controversial anyway (if only the people sourcing the study read the whole report). In effect, consumers are often led to buying more expensive, paraben-free products or worse, led into having a false sense of security that anything natural is safe.

Parabens are a family of compounds used as a preservative in cosmetics, and even in food. These compounds prevent the growth of bacteria and are usually used in combination with other parabens in very low concentrations - less than 0.5% versus the 25% threshold set by industry experts. 

Not always safe.
Image from freevector.com

In 2004, a study found parabens in breast cancer cells and launched an internet-wide e-mail scare connecting parabens and cancer, although reading the study itself does not correlate these two directly. In fact, the researcher himself, said parabens cannot be simply be concluded as the cause of breast cancer, though the findings do warrant further investigation. Which FDA and SCCP (EU) did anyway, which concluded that paraben use is still safe.

Parabens are known to have weak-estrogen like properties, although when compared to the natural estrogen are hundred-folds weaker. Furthermore, the very low concentrations used by the industry make paraben an unlikely cause of breast cancer, at least. So why be afraid of something found in trace, and studied extensively by authorities? Instead of wasting energy on spreading unfounded fear, why not delve into chemical compositions of natural ingredients so we could collectively assess the safety of these as well?