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Formulation Policy


Our Formulation & Preservative Policy

Our formulas are created to be wholesome and natural with the focus of maintaining the safety and integrity of our products for our clients. With this in mind, we are concerned about any chemical that interrupts the natural course of nature and formulate our products to limit the use of these ingredients. Our policy is to use the smallest amounts of preservatives needed to maintain the safety of our products - less than 2% of our total formulation. This fact gives our products an unopened shelf life of 2 years and an opened use life of 1 year.

98.7% Natural and Naturally Derived Ingredients

We have banned more then 1800 ingredients from our product formulations including:
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Phthalates
Petrolatum
Diethanolamine
Triethanolamine
Sodium Laureth Sulfate
Gluten
Lead

No Animal Testing

What are parabens and how were they related to cancer? First, what exactly is a paraben? The chemical name is Alkyl Hydroxy Benzoate Preservatives. Parabens are created naturally in blueberries and other fruits. Parabens are the most commonly used preservative in personal care products. They are widely used in everything from shampoo to personal lubricants. A surprising piece of information is that parabens are added to food products and prescription drugs. These preservatives are used to restrict bacterial and fungal growth. The most common are methylparaben, ethylparaben and butyl paraben.

What is the controversy?
In 2004, an English research group reported identifying parabens in the tissue of a very small selection of breast tumor biopsies (J Appl Toxicol, pg 5-13, 2004). There are several items to consider.
1. This paper did not report if parabens can be found in normal non-diseased tissue. Why is this important? If parabens are present in both normal and diseased tissue, then it could be likely that the presence of parabens in tissue is because of normal use of cosmetics rather than a reason for disease.
2. This was a very limited study and some people (not the author) stated parabens could cause breast cancer. The author of this paper refuted this (Reply to Robert Golden and Jay Gandy - Journal of Applied Toxicology, 2004) "Nowhere in the manuscript (her published paper on parabens found in breast tumors) was any claim made that the presence of parabens had caused the breast cancer, indeed the measurement of a compound in a tissue cannot provide evidence of causality.'"
3. What about parabens mimicking hormones and higher estrogen levels being linked to breast cancer? Well if you are on the contraceptive pill or hormone replacement, your oestrogen (estrogen) dose is incredibly much higher than you could ever receive by using parabens in cosmetics. Parabens are also known as 'weakly estrogenic'. This means oestrogen is 10,000 to 100,000 times more likely to bind to a tissue compared to paraben. As a side note, remember that the contraceptive pill carries a small risk of developing certain cancers (such as cervical) but equally protects from other cancers (ovary, uterine, colon).
4. Let's consider the source - according to the FDA website, most of the miss information about parabens was originally propagated by internet e-mail chains.

What are the alternatives to parabens? The other proven preservative are formaldehyde releasers. Formaldehyde is one of those chemicals with a terrible view with consumers, however, not so justified. Here is a list of Formaldehyde Releasing Preservatives: 2-Bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol, DMDM Hydantoin, Diazolidinyl Urea, Hydroxymethylglycinate, Imidazolidinyl Urea, Quarternium-15, Trishydroxymethylnitromethane, 2-Bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3-diol, The Urea's, in general. It has become common practice for marketing savvy cosmetic companies to removed parabens from their formulas and replace them with another not so consumer focused preservative. Grapeseed extract and Vitamin E oil are proposed as preservatives but have not proven to be stable when exposed to heat or UV rays, which can cause problems with-in a very short time.

Do Parabens cause cancer? Scientifically this has not been proven by any group. The long history of safe use of parabens also adds reason as to why its use is so widespread. On December 17, 2010 the European Commission and EU member states, assisted by the Commission’s independent scientific expert committee (the Scientific Committee for Consumer Safety, SCCS). The SCCS has been reviewing all the available information on parabens and issued a report stating that parabens are safe for use in cosmetic products and proposes limiting their levels to those in line with industry practice.The opinion also re-iterates a previous SCCS opinion confirming the safety of two other parabens, methyl and ethyl parabens, at the levels used in cosmetic products by the industry. These opinions are based upon an objective assessment of all of the available scientific data by an independent, expert, scientific committee that advises the European Commission.

The B.Witching Bath Co. was founded by a woman, and we continue to be a woman owned company with a special interest in producing safe and healthy products for our customers. We constantly monitor the FDA’s ingredient reports and have vigorously researched the paraben situation. You have our commitment to remain ingredient vigilant in the future. We encourage you to read cosmetic and food ingredient labels and choose products that fit your lifestyle.

We are proud members of:
Cosmetic Executive Women CEW
Independent Cosmetic Manufactures Association ICMA

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