Propylene Glycol Myth

Propy­lene gly­col (PG) is a col­or­less, viscous, hygroscopic liq­uid and a deriv­a­tive of nat­ural gas. It is com­monly used in a vari­ety of con­sumer prod­ucts and food prod­ucts, includ­ing deodor­ants, pharmaceuticals, moisturizing lotions, pet food, fat-free ice cream and sour cream prod­ucts. It is also in shampoos, conditioners, lotions and creams, tooth­pastes and laun­dry deter­gents. PG is also used in anti-freeze, brake and hydraulic fluid, paints and coat­ings, floor wax, de-icer, and tobacco.

Propy­lene gly­col serves as Humec­tant — a sub­stance that helps retain mois­ture con­tent, or sim­ply – it pre­vents things from dry­ing out. That’s why some pet foods are soft and chewy. It makes the skin moist and soft and keeps prod­ucts from dry­ing out!! It is also found in baby wipes and even in some processed foods.

What can it do to us?

The Amer­i­can Acad­emy of Der­ma­tol­o­gists, Inc; Jan, 1991, showed PG causes a sig­nif­i­cant num­ber of reac­tions and was a pri­mary irri­tant to the skin even in low lev­els of concentrations.

Propy­lene gly­col may be absorbed through the skin. Studies have shown sys­temic men­tions (residue throughout).

The MSDS (Mate­r­ial Safety Data Sheet) says: May be harm­ful by inges­tion or skin absorp­tion. May cause eye irri­ta­tion, skin irri­ta­tion. Chronic expo­sure can cause gastro-intestinal dis­rup­tions, nau­sea, headache and vom­it­ing, cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem depression. (Toxicological pro­file for eth­yl­ene gly­col and propy­lene gly­col (update) Agency for Toxic Sub­stance and Dis­ease Reg­istry (ATSDR), 1996. Atlanta, Ga; U.S. Depart­ment of Health and Human Ser­vices, Pub­lic Health Service).

Propy­lene gly­col is also used as a sol­vent in acrylics, stains, inks and dyes, and in cel­lo­phane and brake fluid. It is used as a preser­v­a­tive in fla­vored cof­fees. PG can have an anes­thetic effect. Other side effects on ani­mals exposed to PG include heart arrhyth­mia, stunted growth, decreased blood pressure, and even death. BG – Buty­lene Gly­col – is now being used to replace PG in some per­sonal care prod­ucts, eve though buty­lene gly­col is the only one of the gly­cols that has not been able to get on the Gen­er­ally Rec­og­nized As Safe list!

In the book Beauty to Die For, Judy Vance gives the fol­low­ing information:

“Propy­lene gly­col, is one of the most com­mon humec­tants. It is used in many cos­met­ics includ­ing liq­uid foun­da­tion makeup, spray deodor­ants, baby lotions, emol­lients or mois­tur­iz­ers, lip­sticks and sun­tan lotions. It is less expen­sive than glyc­erin and has a bet­ter per­me­ation rate. It has also been linked to sen­si­tiv­ity reac­tions – local irri­ta­tions, aller­gic reac­tions. This would not be news to the man­u­fac­tur­ers  of propy­lene gly­col. If you were to pur­chase a drum of this chem­i­cal from a man­u­fac­turer he is required to fur­nish you with a mate­r­ial safety data sheet (MSDS) and it may alarm you to find that this com­mon, widely used humec­tant has a cau­tion­ary warn­ing in its MSDS that reads, ‘If on skin: thor­oughly wash with soap and water!’ What? Aren’t we putting this stuff on our skins daily, some­times in copi­ous amounts over long peri­ods of time?

“It’s no won­der propy­lene gly­col has been linked to many severe health prob­lems includ­ing con­tact der­mati­tis (irri­ta­tion), auto tox­i­c­ity, kid­ney dam­age and liver abnor­mal­i­ties. It has been shown to be toxic to human cells in cul­tures. (Bul­letin of Envi­ron­men­tal Con­t­a­m­i­na­tion and Tox­i­col­ogy, Jan. 1987). In fact, in tests con­ducted over the years propy­lene gly­col has been shown to inhibit skin cells growth in human tests and cell res­pi­ra­tion in ani­mal tests. (J. Pharm. Belg. Nov/Dec. 1988). It was found to cause skele­tal mus­cu­lar dam­age in rats and rab­bits (Pharm Res Sept. 1989). It is reported to directly alter cell mem­branes (Human Repro­duc­tion, Feb. 1990) to cause thick­en­ing of the skin (con­tact der­mati­tis, 1987) skin dehy­dra­tion and chronic sur­face dam­age to skin (Derm. Beruf Umwelt July/Aug., 1988) It was also shown to increase beta activ­ity (changes found in anx­i­ety states) when inhaled, (The Med­ical Post Sept. 27, 1994).

“Propy­lene gly­col is a known irri­tant and sen­si­tizer caus­ing dry­ness, ery­thema (abnor­mal red­ness) and even blis­ter­ing. (Safety Eval­u­a­tion of a Bar­rier Cream, Contact Der­mati­tis, 17:10–12, 1987).”

Despite its record, propy­lene gly­col con­tin­ues to appear in our every­day prod­ucts. It was orig­i­nally devel­oped for use in indus­try as an anti-freeze, brake fluid, air­plane de-icer among other appli­ca­tions and it’s doing a good job there.

So please, please, please READ your ingre­di­ents if you don’t want to use these types of prod­ucts. The manufacturer’s will not change any­thing until WE the peo­ple REFUSE to buy their prod­ucts and their sales start to slip!!!

Kathleen Flanagan, CEO and Founder of Awakening Spirit, Aromatherapist, Sound Therapist, Esthetician and Author.