<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Parabens are synthetic preservatives that are used on a large scale in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food industries. Their task is primarily to prolong the shelf life of selected products – cosmetics, medicines or food – by maintaining their microbiological purity. Parabens protect products against deterioration and microorganisms, extending their durability by up to several months without interfering with their composition and operation. Parabens do not change the aroma, taste, density or other characteristics of cosmetic or food products. However parabens, which occur in most cosmetics with a creamy or liquid formula (face creams, body lotions, foundation, tonics, lipsticks, deodorants, perfumes), are becoming increasingly worse because of the prolonged list of side effects that they may cause. The presence of intact paraben esters in human body tissues has now been confirmed by independent measurements in human urine, and the ability of parabens to penetrate human skin intact without breakdown by esterases and to be absorbed systemically has been demonstrated through not only <italic>in vitro</italic> studies but also in vivo investigation using healthy human subjects.</p></abstract>

Parabens are synthetic preservatives that are used on a large scale in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food industries. Their task is primarily to prolong the shelf life of selected products – cosmetics, medicines or food – by maintaining their microbiological purity. Parabens protect products against deterioration and microorganisms, extending their durability by up to several months without interfering with their composition and operation. Parabens do not change the aroma, taste, density or other characteristics of cosmetic or food products. However parabens, which occur in most cosmetics with a creamy or liquid formula (face creams, body lotions, foundation, tonics, lipsticks, deodorants, perfumes), are becoming increasingly worse because of the prolonged list of side effects that they may cause. The presence of intact paraben esters in human body tissues has now been confirmed by independent measurements in human urine, and the ability of parabens to penetrate human skin intact without breakdown by esterases and to be absorbed systemically has been demonstrated through not only in vitro studies but also in vivo investigation using healthy human subjects.

Ecotoxicological aspects of the use of parabens in the production of cosmetics

The East European State Higher School – Przemyśl, Institute of Technical Sciences

Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Technology, Department of Inorganic Technology and Environmental Biotechnology

Technical Transactions

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Public License.

{"article-title":"Ecotoxicological aspects of the use of parabens in the production of cosmetics"}

Parabens are synthetic preservatives that are used on a large scale in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food industries. Their task is primarily to prolong...

Ecotoxicological aspects of the use of parabens in the production of cosmetics

Published Online: May 16, 2020

Page range: 99 - 124

Received: Dec 01, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/2353737XCT.19.126.11451

Keywords
parabenes, toxicity, transformation, occurrence in environment

© 2019 Wiesław Barabasz et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Public License.

Ecotoxicological aspects of the use of parabens in the production of cosmetics

Published Online: May 16, 2020

Page range: 99 - 124

Received: Dec 01, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4467/2353737XCT.19.126.11451

Keywordsparabenes, toxicity, transformation, occurrence in environment

© 2019 Wiesław Barabasz et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Public License.

Keywords
parabenes, toxicity, transformation, occurrence in environment