Preservatives in

CosmeticsReish, M.S. Perservatives Under Fire. C&EN. 88, 20,

2010. P. 13 – 16.

Why Do We Need Preservatives?

1. One is to keep formulas stable on the store shelf and prevent them from smelling bad or turning unpleasant colors

2. But the more important reason is that contaminated products could bring on skin rashes, eye irritation, or infections in open cuts or wounds.

Critics Against Preservatives

Preservatives may be exposing customers to cancer-causing agents.

Firms prefers to make cosmetics with preservatives that are also recognized as food ingredients, such as phenoxy ethanol and sodium benzoate. Promote as paraben-free.

Philippa D. Darbre, suggested a connection between the use of underarm cosmetics and the presence of parabens in cancerous breast tissue

Critics For Preservatives

In the U.S., FDA In a 2007 review, the agency said the Darbre study “did not show that parabens cause cancer, or that they are harmful in any way.”

European Cosmetic Association:“Without preservatives, cosmetics would have to be kept cool and would spoil in the same way as perishable food,”

“Every ingredient has both a safe level and a hazardous level. It is the dose and/or exposure conditions that make a particular ingredient safe or unsafe.”

Natural Products

“A natural product is not necessarily better than a synthetic product.” Strychnine, arsenic, and poison ivy are all natural materials, but they are not safe for humans, he notes.

Wingenfeld asserts, chemical preservatives are safer than their natural counterparts because the latter are often not clearly defined and can contain impurities that may cause allergic reactions.

New Direction

Bioidentical products: meaning they are identical to compounds found in nature, yet are man-made.

Firm out Optiphen MIT Ultra, a broad-spectrum blend of the synthetic preservative methylisothiazolinone and phenylpropanol, a molecule found in flowers and fruit

“provides an option that is one step closer to the all-natural preservative the market is looking for.”