France one step nearer to banning use of parabens in cosmetic products
Move said to be purely precautionary
The French National Assembly has approved new legislation - the so-called Loi Lachaud - which contains a ban on the production, import, sale or other offer of products containing parabens - a class of chemical in wide use as a preservative in the cosmetics and pharma industries. The legislation has now gone to the Senate for consideration.
The Assembly members noted that parabens had been in use in cosmetics, drugs and some other products since 1920. The notable feature of the Assembly's move is that action has been approved even before reports of the agents have been received from the country's health safety agencies. The agencies are still considering the issue and their reports are expected either late this year or early in 2012.
What appears to have forced the hand of French MPs is that article 5 of the environment charter imposes "provisional and proportionate" measures on the public authority when a risk of irreversible damage has been identified in products in public use. However, the ban on all products containing parabens is not seen by opponents of the move as being either provisional or proportionate. The lawmakers on the other hand are appealing to the precautionary principle.
While the precise risks posed by parabens await scientific evaluation and no substitutes for their use are available, the point is being made by commentators that cause and effect in supposed links to breast cancer have not been established. Drafters of the French legislation say they have been concerned about a number of reports of the agents and the public need to be reassured.
