Stephen J Genuis, Detlef Birkholz, Luke Curtis, Court Sandau
With effective antibacterial and antifungal properties, commercially used parabens are synthetic compounds widely utilized as preservatives in cosmetics, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and as an additive in some foodstuffs. While long regarded as relatively safe and nontoxic, recent research has demonstrated xenoestrogenic properties of anthropogenic parabens with early evidence that paraben exposure may be linked to breast cancer, thyroid dysfunction, allergy, and obesity. In an attempt to determine the prevalence of paraben exposure in a Canadian urban community, a sample of convenience was done by measuring urinary levels of methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, and isobutyl parabens (MP, EP, PP, BP, and IP) in 39 consecutive patients in an Alberta primary care clinic...
December 17, 2013: ISRN Toxicology