Parabens.

Parabens have been widely used as preservatives in the cosmetics, food, and pharmaceutical industries for more than 70 years. Monitoring for paraben allergy closely followed with studies reporting paraben testing in standard screening fashion as early as 1940. The frequency of sensitivity to this widely used biocide has remained low and remarkably stable for many decades despite extensive use and progressive expansion of utilization worldwide.

Paraben Toxicology.

Parabens now being formally declared as the American Contact Dermatitis Society (non)allergen of the year, the allergologic concerns regarding parabens raised during the past century are no longer a significant issue. The more recent toxicological concerns regarding parabens are more imposing, stemming from the gravity of the noncutaneous adverse health effects for which they have been scrutinized for the past 20 years. These include endocrine activity, carcinogenesis, infertility, spermatogenesis, adipogenesis, perinatal exposure impact, and nonallergologic cutaneous, psychologic, and ecologic effects.