Why are Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives used by the cosmetic industry?
Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives are ingredients that are highly efficient in helping to ensure the safety of products by protecting them against contamination by microorganisms during storage and during continued use by consumers. Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives have the ability to release Formaldehyde in very small amounts over time. The use of Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives ensures that the actual level of free Formaldehyde in the products is always very low but at the same time sufficient to ensure absence of microbial growth. If pure Formaldehyde was used, addition of enough Formaldehyde at the beginning to ensure preservation over the whole lifetime of a product would be necessary, because Formaldehyde is slowly used up over time. This benefit is the reason why only Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives and not Formaldehyde itself is used to preserve today’s cosmetic products.
