What Are Parabens And Are They Safe?

10/30/2019

Written by: Syed Naqvi, Head of Product Development + Innovation @Blueland

Chances are you’ve heard something about parabens recently. The cosmetic industry in particular has started to investigate parabens and how they impact human health. Parabens are common ingredients in personal care and cleaning products, but should they be? We will explain the ins and outs of parabens, and why at Blueland, we keep them out of our products.

What Are Parabens?

Parabens are a group of chemicals typically found in personal care products, like lotions, cleansers and cosmetics. They are also found in some household cleaners. Parabens are used as preservatives. When added to a product, they keep bacteria and mold from growing. This increases the shelf-life of a product. Parabens are found more often in water-based products than in dry products, as these products are naturally prone to grow bacteria or mold. With parabens, water-based products can stay on the shelf for longer, because parabens have properties that make the products resistant to bacteria.

Just because they are found in everyday products doesn’t mean they are good to have in your products. Parabens have been linked to health problems in humans and animals.

Are Parabens Bad?

Parabens have been associated with a number of health risks related to the endocrine system. They can act as endocrine disruptors and mimic hormones like estrogen in the body. In animal studies, parabens have caused reproductive harm. In human studies, parabens have been associated with decreased fertility in males and females.

Parabens can be absorbed through the skin. So, when parabens are in personal care products and cleaning products, it is easy for them to find their way into your body. Parabens are still in many cleaning and personal care products despite the findings from animal and human studies. At Blueland, we did not want to take the risk and we kept parabens out of our products.

Does Blueland Use Parabens?

At Blueland, we do not use parabens in our products. In addition to excluding parabens we’ve received the Platinum Material Health Certificate from the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute for our 3 cleaning sprays, hand soap, powder dish soap, dishwasher tablets, and laundry tablets; the USDA BioPreferred certification for our 3 cleaning sprays, powder dish soap, dishwasher tablets, and laundry tablets; EPA Safer Choice certification for our 3 cleaning sprays, hand soap tablets, and dishwasher tablets; Leaping Bunny (cruelty free) certification for all of our products; and our dishwasher tablets are the first and currently, the only dishwasher detergent that is EWG verified.