Swiss chemical giant Clariant today announced the launch of Nipaguard® Zero — a powerful line of optimized preservative blends for cosmetics that contain no parabens, yet deliver a comparable performance.
Clariant offers a broad portfolio of single actives and optimized blends under the brand names Phenonip®, Nipagin® and Nipaguard. Due to growing end-user demand for alternatives to parabens, the company has developed four Nipaguard Zero blends for use in rinse-off and leave-on applications, wet wipes and difficult-to-preserve formulations, including an Ecocert®-approved option.
Parabens are used to prevent the growth of microbes in cosmetic products and can be absorbed through the skin, blood and digestive system, according to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep database, which compares cosmetic ingredients to over 50 international toxicity databases, indicates that parabens are linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity, immunotoxicity, neurotoxicity and skin irritation.
Clariant’s Nipaguard Zero blends are based on 100% renewable Velsan® SC, a synergistic booster developed by Clariant that enables use of a reduced amount of preservatives to provide reliable protection against bacteria, yeasts and fungi. Nipaguard Zero provides broad-spectrum preservation, is easy to use, safe and effective at low concentrations and also meets major regulatory requirements.
Introducing the new blends, Anu Desikan, Global Marketing Manager for Personal Care said: “We understand the challenges that our customers face, in finding a safe and reliable preservative for their formulations, while navigating the frequently changing trends, regulations and requirements. We work with our customers to provide solutions to these challenges that are innovative, sustainable and effective to deliver confidence in preservation.”
Earlier this year, Clariant, which is a member of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, released its One Way sustainability toolbox, which offers textile mills, manufacturers, brands and retailers facts and measurements to help them select products and processes with both ecology and economy in mind.
The personal-care products industry has seen increased scrutiny in recent months due to the prevalence of ingredients that are harmful both to people and to the environment. Earlier this month, the Rainforest Foundation UK released its Appetite for Destruction? Consumer guide, which ranks cosmetics companies on a scale of 0-20, depending on their use and sourcing of palm oil, a key ingredient in cosmetics, which is responsible for rampant rainforest destruction. Last month, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble both committed to removing microbeads from their beauty products after large amounts of the beads were found polluting the Great Lakes; and the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) filed suit in California against four companies that sell shampoos, soaps and other personal care products that contain cocamide diethanolamine (cocamide DEA), a chemically modified form of coconut oil used as a thickener or foaming agent in many products, which was listed by California as a known carcinogen last year.
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Published Sep 19, 2013 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT / 10pm BST / 11pm CEST