Note: We have chosen not to name the products or manufacturers in the study referenced in this article. The reason is that the products used in this study contain commonly used petroleum based ingredients, probably found in 90% of skin creams and moisturizers on the market today. It is therefore unfair to name those 4 companies, when most of the moisturizers on the market contain these petroleum based ingredients.

A recent study conduced at Rutgers University showed some commonly used moisturizers with petroleum ingredients caused an alarming increase in the rate and size of skin cancer tumors in mice.

Petroleum based ingredients are commonly used in many skin care products such as moisturizers. This is because these ingredients can produce an inexpensive cream which has a nice feel to it, creates a good dermal barrier, is effective at keeping moisture in the skin, all while hydrating the skin to a small degree. Mineral oil (a form of kerosene), also referred to as paraffin oil or liquid paraffin, white petrolatum, and paraffin wax are the most commonly used ingredients in skin care products today, used in the base cream for creating an oil and water emulsion. The industry is changing. At Rowell Laboratories, we saw proof from a pre-clinical study (done on mice) of the some of the more serious problems related to petroleum in skin cream moisturizers last year when a study conducted at Rutgers University was published, but it was our awareness of the concerns of many of the homeopathic physicians, and others in the natural and homeopathic communities, that originally caught our attention.

A study conducted last fall (publicized Aug. 14, 2008) by Allen H. Conney, PhD, director of the Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research, and his colleagues, found that frequent application of some commonly used skin creams cause an increase in the number of tumors and tumor growth in mice.

Dr. Cooney and his colleagues at Rutgers University were preparing a pre-clinical mouse study on the effectiveness of topical caffeine in the prevention of skin cancer, with the intention of using the topical caffeine in a Phase I human skin study for the same purpose. Their product was to be prepared by using a commonly available moisturizing skin cream base, and adding their “active ingredient”, caffeine or a caffeine compound to it. They figured that they had better try their selected base for the study on mice first without the caffeine as a control group before conducting their skin/caffeine study. What they found was completely unexpected: the base without the caffeine caused a significant increase in the size and number of tumors in the mice.

This led to new tests of this skin moisturizer base and 3 other commonly used bases or skin moisturizing creams. For these new studies, researchers used hairless mice, exposed to ultraviolet light (UV-B in this study) twice a week for 20 weeks early in life. It should be noted that with no more exposure to the UV light, these mice will eventually develop skin cancer. “This (the tumor growth) was unexpected. We really did not expect to see the tumor promoting activity of these creams.”, said Conney. This is much like children who get too much exposure to UV radiation or sunlight , according to other studies.

While assigning each of the 4 moisturizers to its own group of mice, researchers rubbed a small amount of the moisturizer, 100 milligrams – about the size of a small drop of water, into each of the mices’ skin, once a day, five days a week for 17 weeks. The results were an increase in tumors ranging from 24% to 95% depending on the moisturizer used.

Then another study was conducted by the same group of researchers. A special blend moisturizer was developed by Johnson & Johnson that did not contain ingredients from the other four creams used in the above study. This new study used this J&J custom blend and the previous study was then repeated. The results: Topical applications of the specially designed custom blend cream to high-risk mice was not tumorigenic. By the end of the study, only the mice treated with the custom blended moisturizer did not develop squamous cell carcinoma. In other words, the custom blend did not promote skin cancer.

“The multimillion dollar question is, what about humans?” Conney asks. “The answer is, we don’t know. Our study raises a red flag and points out the need for epidemiologists to take a look at people who use moisturizing creams. And the companies that market these products should take a look at animal models and see if their products promote tumors.”

It is important to note that these moisturizers did not cause cancer in mice. That was a result of their early life exposure to UV radiation in the lab. These were hairless mice, exposed to ultraviolet light 2x per week for 20 weeks early in their life.

With the exception of this one cream used in the study where the ingredients are not known, the skin creams used in this study all had one ingredient in common: mineral oil, an ingredient found in most moisturizers used today. The three of the four moisturizers contained this ingredient in significant concentrations, while the fourth moisturizer ingredients could not be found. What exactly is mineral oil? Mineral oil or liquid petroleum or paraffin oil is a form of kerosene, a by-product in the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline and other petroleum based products from crude oil. Kerosene is also known as thin mineral oil.

There is some speculation that the tumors were not caused by the ingredients in the creams used, but rather caused by making the skin more supple, or shiny effecting how the light interacted with the skin, or in some way changing the properties of the dermal barrier of the skin, making it more susceptible to the UV radiation. This will have to be left for future studies.

Additionally, there has been conflicting information about the potential toxicity or carcinogenicity of mineral oil and Petroleum Jelly in the last few years. The results can be argued forever, and any study can be criticized, but the facts remain the same: these commonly used daily moisturizers, with petroleum based ingredients, did produce cancerous tumors in mice, where the custom blend without the petroleum did not.

The original article on the study was published Aug. 14, 2008 published in the online version of Journal of Investigative Dermatologyon. The study can be found here: http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v129/n2/abs/jid2008241a.html.

Correspondence for Dr. Conney can be directed to: Dr Allan H. Conney, Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research, Department of Chemical Biology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 164 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8020, USA. E-mail: aconney@rci.rutgers.edu

The Johnson & Johnson Custom Blend Ingredients used were: purified water, propylene glycol, stearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, polysorbate 20, isopropyl myristate, C12-15 alkyl benzoate, benzoic acid, glycerin, and sodium hydroxide.

Our Rowell skincare products do not contain any petroleum based ingredients. We have developed our products with a wonderful base moisturizer containing all natural oils and ingredients, such as aloe vera, shea oil, sunflower oil, and grape seed oil, while being petroleum free.

Author Bio: Bill Rowell, President – NatureCare Skincare Products ~ Homeopathic ~ Petroleum-free ~ Gluten-free Visit Rowell Laboratories, Inc. at http://www.rowelllabs.com

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: petroleum, foot, antifungal, homeopathic, natural, skincare, health, toenail, fungus, remedy