I recently had a client ask me to pose a question to Dr Des Fernandes (founder of Environ Skincare), about parabens and the repelling of good and not so 'good' ingredients into our skin. With his permission I am revealing his response:
"The story that the mischievous internet scare mongers have created about parabens is interesting and annoying. The most recent and long term study done by the FDA showed that Parabens are one of the least irritating molecules that we use in skin preparations, and finally that allergy to parabens is extremely rare. There is no evidence that they do any wrong. Just as well because we all eat parabens every day and if you eat strawberries then you eat them in quite a high dose. Parabens are natural (does that shock you to discover they are natural?) and found in many foods that we eat uncooked, unprocessed. We can't escape from them, especially if you eat a healthy diet. Just as well they are innocuous, don't you think.
When I formulated Environ I would not add any parabens because I mistakenly thought they were major causes of skin irritation. We don't add parabens to product and actually I believe we don't even have them in our factory. You will see Parabens listed because in compliance with COLIPA rules we declare all the ingredients of every ingredient and there are some supplied with parabens as the preservative. Parabens are the major preservatives in medical products an no-one worries about them!
The woman who claimed that parabens caused breast cancer has been roundly criticised and censored for her wreckless and unscientific method. The whole story is evidence of stupid pseudo-scientific thinking.
Breast cancer was described as being commonly situated immediately next to the arm bit since about 1848 many years before under arm deodorants..... See Paula Begouin and her comments about Parabens.
Propylene Glycol harmful? Where is the evidence? I know oxygen is harmful and I have thousands of papers showing that - but of course in the right dose and under the right conditions We have to remember that the harmful effects of oxygen are the major reason for ageing and death. Do those that question the long term harmful effects of propylene glycol in the average doses used in cosmetics have evidence?
The paradox is that people who spread and even believe these rumours are determined that there is a conspiracy to poison mankind with cosmetic ingredients and they are not interested in real scientific evidence!"
Dr Des Fernandes
