Paraben Consumer Software

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Beginningin NHANES 2013-2014, the Environmental Phenols and Parabens dataset (formerly EPH) was combined with the Pesticides - Environmental - Urine dataset (formerly PP) and renamed Personal Care and Consumer Product Chemicals and Metabolites (EPHPP_H).

Biomonitoring of environmental phenols, parabens, and triclocarban is used to assess prevalence and relevance of exposure in public health. The routes of human exposure to these compounds include industrial pollution, pesticide use, food consumption, and use of personal care products.

Parabens, a group of alkyl (e.g., methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl) esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, are widely used as antimicrobial preservatives in personal care products, and can also be used in pharmaceuticals, as well as in food and beverage processing.

Urinary environmental phenols, parabens and triclocarban were measured in a one third subsample of persons 6 years and older. Special sample weights are required to analyze these data properly. Specific sample weights for this subsample are included in this data file and should be used when analyzing these data.

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Parabens are a family of related chemicals that are commonly used as preservatives in cosmetic products. Preservatives may be used in cosmetics to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria and mold, in order to protect both the products and consumers.

Product ingredient labels typically list more than one paraben in a product, and parabens are often used in combination with other types of preservatives to better protect against a broad range of microorganisms.

Parabens are used in a wide variety of cosmetics, as well as in foods and drugs. Cosmetics that may contain parabens include makeup, moisturizers, hair care products, and shaving products, among others. Many major brands of deodorants do not currently contain parabens, although some may.

Cosmetics sold to consumers in stores or online must have a list of ingredients, each listed by its common or usual name. This is important information for consumers who want to find out whether a product contains an ingredient they wish to avoid. Parabens are usually easy to identify by their name, such as methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, or ethylparaben.

However, it is against the law to market a cosmetic in interstate commerce if it is adulterated or misbranded. This means, for example, that cosmetics must be safe for consumers when used according to directions on the label or in the customary way, and they must be properly labeled.

FDA can take action against a cosmetic on the market that does not comply with the laws we enforce. However, to take action against a cosmetic for safety reasons, we must have reliable scientific information showing that the product is harmful when consumers use it according to directions on the label or in the customary way.

FDA scientists continue to review published studies on the safety of parabens. At this time, we do not have information showing that parabens as they are used in cosmetics have an effect on human health. Here are some of the questions we are considering:

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Nearly all Americans have detectable concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals from consumer products in their bodies, and expert panels recommend reducing exposures. To inform exposure reduction, we investigated whether consumers who are trying to avoid certain chemicals in consumer products have lower exposures than those who are not. We also aimed to make exposure biomonitoring more widely available. We enrolled 726 participants in a crowdsourced biomonitoring study. We targeted phenolic compounds-specifically parabens, bisphenol A (BPA) and analogs bisphenol F (BPF) and bisphenol S (BPS), the UV filter benzophenone-3, the anti-microbial triclosan, 2,4-dichlorophenol, and 2,5-dichlorophenol-and collected survey data on consumer products, cleaning habits, and efforts to avoid related chemicals. We investigated associations between 68 self-reported exposure behaviors and urine concentrations of ten chemicals, and evaluated whether associations were modified by intention to avoid exposures. A large majority (87%) of participants reported taking steps to limit exposure to specific chemicals, and, overall, participants achieved lower concentrations than the general U.S. population for parabens, BPA, triclosan, and benzophenone-3 but not BPF and BPS. Participants who reported avoiding all four ingredient groups-parabens, triclosan, bisphenols, and fragrances-were twice as likely as others to be in the lowest quartile of cumulative exposure. Avoiding certain products and reading ingredient labels to avoid chemicals was most effective for parabens, triclosan, and benzophenone-3. Avoiding BPA was not effective for reducing bisphenol exposures. Avoiding certain chemicals in products was generally associated with reduced exposure for chemicals listed on labels. Greater ingredient transparency will help consumers who read labels to reduce their exposure to a wider range of potentially harmful chemicals. In order to more equitably address public health, labeling policies should be complemented by regulations that exclude harmful chemicals from consumer products.

According to ingredient data obtained by EWG's Food Scores: Rate Your Plate, an online database and app that helps consumers eat healthier, propyl paraben is in 49 widely-available processed foods, including Sara Lee cinnamon rolls, Weight Watchers cakes and La Banderita Corn Tortillas.

In 2002 researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Public Health discovered that propyl paraben decreased sperm counts in young rats at and below the concentrations which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers safe for human consumption in food (Oishi 2002; 21CFR184.1670).

Other researchers have confirmed propyl paraben's effects on the endocrine system. It acts as a synthetic estrogenic compound and can alter hormone signaling and gene expression (Routledge 1998; Terasaka 2006; Vo 2011; Wrbel 2014). A recent study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health suggested that exposure to propyl paraben might be associated with diminished fertility (Smith 2013).

Citing the study by the researchers in Tokyo, the European Food Safety Authority issued an advisory in 2004 that the presumed safe exposure level for propyl paraben in food was no longer valid because it affected sex hormones and the male reproductive organs in young rats (EFSA 2004). Based on that advice, in 2006, regulators removed propyl paraben from the list of food additives authorized for use in the European Union.

Yet Americans are still widely exposed to this chemical. In 2010 research led by Antonia Calafat, Ph.D., a respected chemist at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported that 92.7 percent of Americans tested had propyl paraben in their urine (Calafat 2010).

EWG's Food Scores: Rate Your Plate is an easy-to-use food database and mobile app that will house ratings and a vast array of other information for more than 82,000 foods from about 1,500 brands in a simple, searchable, online format. The new tool is the most comprehensive food-rating database available to consumers. Its scoring system factors in not only nutrition, but also ingredients of concern, such as food additives, and contaminants. It also estimates the degree to which foods have been processed.

EWG's Food Scores aims to guide people to greener, healthier, and cleaner food choices. Users can find an overall score, from 1 (best) to 10 (worst), for every product in the food database. EWG's product profiles include highly detailed information on how each food stacks up in terms of nutritional content and whether they contain questionable additives, such as nitrites or potassium bromate, or harmful contaminants, such as arsenic and mercury, and which foods have the lowest and highest processing concerns. They also identify meat and dairy products that are likely produced with antibiotics and hormones and highlight the fruits and vegetables that are likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues.

EWG's Food Scores is built on data gathered by LabelINSIGHT, an independent product label database and analysis platform, which provides details on packaged foods that carry a barcode.

EWG's Food Scores is available as a free mobile app for iPhone and Android users. With the app, consumers are able to scan barcodes of products with their smartphones to get rating information while they are grocery shopping. They are able to compare a product's score to that of similar products, right at their fingertips, and find comparable products with better scores.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the California Food Safety Act, the first law in the U.S. to ban four harmful chemicals from being used as additives in foods sold and produced in the state (read more about the ban). Those chemicals are brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, and Red Dye No. 3.

A bill co-sponsored by Consumer Reports and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and now being debated in the California State Assembly would, if passed, ban five chemicals from being used as additives in food and drinks sold in the state. And it could have far-reaching effects for consumers throughout the country.

Food safety advocates have concerns about a broad range of food additives, hundreds of which have entered the food system in the past two decades without a rigorous safety review by the Food and Drug Administration.

But these five meet several criteria that make them stand out, says Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the EWG. Each can be found in scores (and in some cases hundreds) of products currently on supermarket shelves, each has been clearly linked to health harms, and each has been banned for use in food by regulators in European countries who weighed the latest scientific evidence.

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