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[music] Hello, I’m Dr. Neal Schultz
[pause]
and welcome to DermTV.
There’s been a lot written about the alleged dangers of Parabens in skin
care products and I’m happy to tell you that I don’t believe they’re
dangerous. And, the FDA has looked at the subject three times in the past
twenty years and each time, and as recently as five years ago, they’ve
concluded that Parabens in cosmetic skin care products are not dangerous to
consumers. Let’s look at the facts. Parabens really are preservatives and
as a matter of fact they’re the most common preservative used in cosmetic
skin care products. There are three types: methylparaben, butylparaben and
propylparaben. Why are preservatives in skin care products? They’re there
to prevent the growth of bacteria, fungi and other germs in the products so
those products then don’t infect us. Where’s the controversy? In fact,
Parabens have very weak, small estrogenic activity and we do know the
estrogen activity can be related to certain breast tumors. The reality
though is, that the estrogenic effect of Parabens is between 10,000 fold
and 100,000 fold less than natural estrogens like Estrogel, and when
Parabens are put in skin care products, they’re on a very small
concentration somewhere between a hundredth of one percent and three tenths
of a percent. So this is the bottom line: there is very, very little
Paraben in any cosmetic skin care product and of that very little amount of
Paraben, incredibly small amounts, if any, are absorbed into the skin, and
if they are absorbed, they have incredibly weak estrogenic power or
activity. So I’m happy to reassure you, that I believe, that Parabens in
skin care products are safe.