EWG Skin Deep® | What is ISOBUTYLPARABEN

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Data: Fair

Isobutylparaben

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (high), Endocrine disruption (high), and Biochemical or cellular level changes (moderate)

SYNONYMS

● 2-METHYLPROPYL ESTER 4-HYDROXYBENZOIC ACID

● 2-METHYLPROPYL ESTER BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXY-

● 4-HYDROXY- 2-METHYLPROPYL ESTER BENZOIC ACID

● 4-HYDROXYBENZOIC ACID, 2-METHYLPROPYL ESTER

● BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXY-, 2-METHYLPROPYL ESTER

● BENZOIC ACID, 4HYDROXY, 2METHYLPROPYL ESTER

● ISOBUTYL 4-HYDROXYBENZOATE

● ISOBUTYL ESTER PARAHYDROXYBENZOIC ACID

● ISOBUTYL P-HYDROXYBENZOATE

● ISOBUTYL PARAHYDROXYBENZOATE

● ISOBUTYLPARABEN

● PARAHYDROXYBENZOIC ACID, ISOBUTYL ESTER

● SODIUM ISOBUTYLPARABEN

Unacceptable

Unacceptable: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient

Isobutylparaben is in the parabens family of preservatives used by the food, pharmaceutical, and personal care product industries. Parabens mimic estrogen, are potential hormone (endocrine) system disruptors, and were found in the breast cancer tumors of 19 of 20 women studied (Darbre 2004). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tested urine from a group of 2,548 Americans over the age of 6 and found parabens in over 99% of samples (Calafat 2010). Isobutylparaben is closely related to butylparaben, a compound considered to be a potential human endocrine system disruptor by the European Commission on Endocrine Disruption (EU 2007). Isobutylparaben appears to be more strongly estrogenic than butylparaben (Darbre 2002, Vo 2010), but receives a lower hazard score in Skin Deep because of the limited amount of toxicological research on this chemical. Subsequent research and agency assessments may find isobutylparaben to be as or more hazardous to the endocrine system than butylparaben.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

LOW

Cancer
MODERATE

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
MODERATE

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
HIGH

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

facial cleanser	4 products
eye liner	4 products
sunless tanning	3 products
facial moisturizer/treatment	2 products
hair treatment/serum	2 products
lip gloss	2 products
setting powder/spray	1 products
damaged skin treatment	1 products
polish remover	1 products
lip balm with SPF	1 products
recreational sunscreen	1 products
hair styling aide	1 products
body powder	1 products
lip balm	1 products
styling gel/lotion	1 products
moisturizer	1 products
around-eye cream	1 products
anti-aging	1 products
foot moisturizer	1 products
mascara	1 products

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Violation of government restrictions - Banned or found unsafe for use in cosmetics	European Union - Banned or Restricted in Cosmetics
Restricted in cosmetics (recommendations or requirements) - use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - any	Open scientific literature
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - any	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - any	Open scientific literature

Endocrine disruption

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Known human any disruptor	Open scientific literature
Human endocrine disruptor - strong evidence	European Commission on Endocrine Disruption
Limited evidence of endocrine disruption	Open scientific literature
One or more studies show significant wildlife and the environment disruption	European Commission on Endocrine Disruption
One or more studies show weak endocrine disruption	EWG Assessment of Open Scientific Literature
One or more animal studies show endocrine disruption at moderate doses	Open scientific literature
One or more studies show weak endocrine disruption	Open scientific literature
One or more animal studies show endocrine disruption at high doses	Open scientific literature

Developmental/reproductive toxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Possible human reproductive or developmental toxin	Open scientific literature
One or more animal studies show any effects at very low doses	Open scientific literature

Allergies/immunotoxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Human skin toxicant or allergen - strong evidence	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
One or more human case studies show possible immune or allergenic effects	Open scientific literature

Biochemical or cellular level changes

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Interferes with gene expresion	Open scientific literature

Data gaps

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Risk assessment method deficiencies and data gaps - Maximum reported "as used" concentration is basis of safety assessment by industry safety panel (Cosmetic Ingredient Review, CIR) - implicit safe concentration limit in product	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
Safety assessment was based on related chemical	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
29 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical	NLM PubMed

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Not suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmful	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Persistence and bioaccumulation

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Not suspected to be persistent	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Not suspected to be bioaccumulative	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Multiple, additive exposure sources

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in food	FDA Everything Added to Food

Informational

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Industry or government recommendations for safe use: restrictions on concentration, impurities, product types, or manufacturing methods - any	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

EC (European Commission of the European Union). 1999-2006. Enterprise Directorate-General Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics. The rules governing cosmetic products in the European Union, Volume 1, "Cosmetics legislation."
Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). 2006. CIR Compendium, containing abstracts, discussions, and conclusions of CIR cosmetic ingredient safety assessments. Washington DC.
EU (European Union)- Strategy for Endocrine Disrupters 2007. Commision on endocrin disruption requested by the European Parliament in 1998.
EWG Assessment of Open Scientific Literature
NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). 2008. EAFUS [Everything Added to Food]: A Food Additive Database. FDA Office of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

Understanding scores

Cosmetics and personal care products are not required to be tested for safety before being allowed on the market. The Skin Deep® scoring system was designed to help the public understand whether a product is safe to use or whether it contains ingredients of concern.

Every product and ingredient in Skin Deep gets a two-part score – one for hazard and one for data availability. The safest products score well by both measures, with a low hazard rating and a fair or better data availability rating.

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES

Hazard score

The Skin Deep ingredient hazard score, from 1 to 10, reflects known and suspected hazards linked to the ingredients. The EWG VERIFIED^® mark means a product meets EWG’s strictest criteria for transparency and health.

Data availability

The Skin Deep data availability rating reflects the number of scientific studies about the product or ingredient in the published scientific literature.

NONE LIMITED FAIR GOOD ROBUST

Low Availability

Moderate Availability

High Availability