A new study from the University of Reading in England highlights concerns over whether parabens could contribute to breast cancer since they are able to imitate the female hormone estrogen, which is known to promote the growth of breast tumors.
Dr Philippa Darbre, of the School of Biological Sciences, and her research team studied 160 tissue samples from 40 women who had undergone mastectomies between 2005 and 2008 for first primary breast cancer. The 4 samples from each woman covered serial locations from the axilla to the sternum. One paraben was found in 99% of the tissue samples, and 60% of the samples had 5 parabens.
Dr Darbre said, “Many of the concentrations of the parabens measured in these breast tissues would be sufficient to drive the growth of estrogen-dependent human breast cancer cells in the laboratory.
“The fact that parabens were detected in the majority of the breast tissue samples cannot be taken to imply that they actually caused breast cancer in the 40 women studied. However, the fact that parabens were present in so many of the breast tissue samples does justify further investigation.”
Source: University of Reading.