EWG Skin Deep® | What is ISOPROPYLPARABEN

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Data: Fair

Isopropylparaben

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (high), Endocrine disruption (high), and Ecotoxicology (low)

SYNONYMS

1-METHYLETHYL ESTER 4-HYDROXYBENZOIC ACID, 1-METHYLETHYL ESTER BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXY-, 1-METHYLETHYL ESTER SODIUM SALT BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXY, 1-METHYLETHYL-4-HYDROXYBENZOATE, 4-HYDROXY- 1-METHYLETHYL ESTER BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXYBENZOIC ACID, 1-METHYLETHYL ESTER, BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXY, 1-METHYLETHYL ESTER, SODIUM SALT, BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXY-, 1-METHYLETHYL ESTER, BENZOIC ACID, 4HYDROXY, 1METHYLETHYL ESTER, ISOPROPYL 4-HYDROXYBENZOATE, ISOPROPYL ESTER PARAHYDROXYBENZOATE, ISOPROPYL P-HYDROXYBENZOATE, ISOPROPYLPARABEN, P-HYDROXYBENZOIC ACID ISOPROPYL ESTER, PARAHYDROXYBENZOATE, ISOPROPYL ESTER, SODIUM ISOPROPYLPARABEN, and SODIUM SALT BENZOIC ACID, 4-HYDROXY, 1-METHYLETHYL ESTER

Isopropylparaben 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). Isopropylparaben is closely related to propylparaben, a compound considered to be a potential human endocrine system disruptor by the European Commission on Endocrine Disruption (EU 2007). Isopropylparaben appears to be more strongly estrogenic than propylparaben (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 isopropylparaben to be as or more hazardous to the endocrine system than propylparaben.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

LOW

Cancer
MODERATE

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
MODERATE

Developmental and Reingredientive Toxicity
HIGH

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

eye liner	4 products
eye shadow	1 products
makeup primer	1 products

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
Limited evidence of endocrine disruption	Open scientific literature
One or more studies show weak endocrine disruption	EWG Assessment of 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

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	Open scientific literature
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - any	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Allergies/immunotoxicity

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

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Wildlife and environmental toxicity	Open scientific literature
Not suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

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
16 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical	NLM PubMed

Multiple, additive exposure sources

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

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

Informational

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

Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
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
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."
CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). 2006. CIR Compendium, containing abstracts, discussions, and conclusions of CIR cosmetic ingredient safety assessments. Washington DC.
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.
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.
FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) 2006. Food Additive Status List. Downloaded from http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Edms/opa-appa.html, Oct 16, 2006.

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