Most manufacturers have moved to eliminate parabens (as well as things like SLS and SLES) but they're not banned in the EU or US.
In fact, if I read this FDA page right, in the US you have have up to 25% by volume in cosmetics (although it states they're typically <= 0.3%). In the EU, for comparison, it's just 0.4%!
http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ProductsIngredients/Ingredients/ucm128042.htm
Nothing conclusive to link them to anything bad, but some suggestions and that's enough for manufacturers to remove it these days (for fear of people running a mile).
As with a lot of these things, this week it'll be the bogeyman, next month it'll be a health fad. Or vice versa.
In fact, if I read this FDA page right, in the US you have have up to 25% by volume in cosmetics (although it states they're typically <= 0.3%). In the EU, for comparison, it's just 0.4%!
http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ProductsIngredients/Ingredients/ucm128042.htm
Nothing conclusive to link them to anything bad, but some suggestions and that's enough for manufacturers to remove it these days (for fear of people running a mile).
As with a lot of these things, this week it'll be the bogeyman, next month it'll be a health fad. Or vice versa.