Preservatives are added to almost all personal care items including nail polish, cleansers and moisturizing lotions.

Some preservatives are toxic and there is a growing effort to replace them with safer alternatives.

What are Preservatives?

Preservatives are substances added to products to stop them from spoiling. They are added to food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and household products to prevent them from decomposing or undergoing an undesirable chemical change.

Preserving can be done in two ways.

• Physical preservation achieved by refrigerating or drying a product.
• Chemical preservation achieved by adding a chemical to a product.

Chemical preservatives act in one of two ways.

• Antimicrobial preservatives prevent damage caused by bacteria, yeast and mold.
• Antioxidant preservatives prevent the product going brown or rancid, which typically happens when exposed to oxygen and light.

Why are they in consumer products?

Preservatives are used to protect products, keep them safe and perform as intended over their lifetime. Preservatives are added to products to:

• Extend the shelf life of the product. If preservatives were not used, many products would only last a matter of weeks.
• Prevent mold from growing.
• Minimize odor formation and discoloration.
• Prevent contamination by the consumer during use.

Are they dangerous?

Unfortunately, some preservatives are quite toxic. There is growing concern with parabens, formaldehyde and triclosan. Parabens are endocrine disruptors, which mean they mimic estrogen, a hormone in our bodies. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen and triclosan is damaging our eco systems.

Are there safer alternatives?

There are safer alternatives but finding one that works well is not an easy task.

There is  a preservatives project hosted by the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3) a cross-sectoral, business-to-business network of companies and other organizations working collaboratively to advance green chemistry across sectors and supply chains.

The Project on Preservatives was launched earlier this year with two goals:

1. To accelerate the commercialization of new, safe, effective preservative systems for personal care and household products; and
2. To create a new model of pre-commercial collaboration whereby companies with common needs for new, safe chemicals can accelerate the development and scale-up of these technologies.

Impact to your business

Questions to Consider:

• Do your products contain preservatives that may be toxic to human health or the environment?
• Are you finding safer alternatives to preservatives?

For help with any issue associated with chemicals, contact Amanda Cattermole at (415) 412 8406 or Amanda@cattermoleconsulting.com. We can help you develop powerful solutions to protect your company and brand reputation that result in safer products manufactured in cleaner supply chains.

Tips and Insights contains information to help you make informed chemicals management decisions. Each post highlights a particular topic and includes questions for you to consider .