by Darlene Alexander

Created on: September 01, 2010   Last Updated: September 03, 2010

Can Parabens Affect Our Health?

For years, parabens have been used to extend the shelf life of personal care products. If parabens are so safe, why is there an influx of products stating, “paraben-free” on the label?  Is it because research has linked parabens to breast cancer?  Naturally, we turned to the expert, David Hanen for answers.  Mr. Hanen is the owner of Innovative Salon Products Inc and he’s a strong advocate for breast cancer research.  Over the last four years, his company has supported such causes as the Susan G. Komen Foundation.      

According to Mr. Hanen, parabens have been around for a very long time and they had been considered safe; as well as an effective preservative system. Mr. Hanen stated, “You’ll find that parabens are used in some food, but the majority of parabens are found in personal care products.   Products such as lip balm, foundation makeup, shampoo, conditioner, hand lotion and mascara usually contain parabens.  However, parabens over the last five years have gained an unpopular reputation.  According to Mr. Hanen, parabens can mimic the hormone estrogen in the body, which means you’ll have excess estrogen in the body and parabens have been linked to breast cancer.  Mr. Hanen stated, “Now there’s not specific science that proves or disproves it, so you’ll find positive and negative arguments on both sides of this issue.”  But again the question is, “why expose ourselves to an ingredient that has a negative long-term effect or a perceived negative long-term effect for breast cancer?”  Mr. Hanen stated, “My eight year old daughter, she’s nowhere near products that contain parabens.  When my daughter is in her late 20’s or early 30’s, I don’t want her to run into the possibility of developing breast cancer.”   Although we know that breast cancer has been linked by family history and other risk factors, but if we can take ingredients out of our personal care products that are harmful and still have a product be preserved, then why not?  Mr. Hanen stated, “I don’t want to expose my daughter or anyone else’s daughter to carcinogens.”  Mr. Hanen stated, “From a health perspective a lot of these ingredients proven by science are now being linked to health conditions such as birth defects, infertility

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