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Parabens

Publication "A review of the Endocrine Activity of Parabens and Implications for Potential Risks to Human Health" by Robert Golden, Jay Gandy and Guenter Vollmer in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 35: 435-458, 2005.

Parabens have recently been reviewed by the well recognized scientists Robert Golden, Jay Gandy and Guenter Vollmer. Their review was published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, Volume 35, in June 2005.

The objective of this review was to assess the potential endocrine activity of paraben compounds that are commonly used as preserving agents and whether they pose any risk to human health.

The following conclusions have been drawn:

• Only butyl-, isobutyl- and benzylparaben have demonstrated estrogenic activity in an in vivo assay. However, the in vivo estrogenic potency of these parabens is orders of magnitude less than for estrogen.
• Potency differences between parabens and estrogen are even greater due to the inability of parabens to produce estrogenlike effects comparable to estrogen, no matter what dose is employed.
• Based on the estrogenic potency differences between parabens and estrogens, there is no scientific basis for concluding that in utero exposure to parabens might cause adverse effects on a developing fetus.
• It is biological implausible that parabens could increase the risk of any estrogen- mediated endpoints, including effects on male reproductive tract or breast cancer.
• While there is no question that in utero or adult exposure to sufficient doses of estrogen can cause a number of adverse effects in humans, the presumption that exposure to chemicals that are many orders of magnitude less potent than estrogen will cause similar effects has never been demonstrated.

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