Rohm and Haas get worldwide approval for preservative
its key preservative Neolone. Simon Pitman reports on an
ingredient that is being billed as a viable option to the often
controversial parabens family.
Rohm and Haas says that methylisothiazolinone, the key ingredient in its Neolone preservatives has been approved by the European Authorities.
The legislative approval from the EU authorities - often deemed to be the most difficult to achieve for cosmetics and personal care ingredients - now paves the way for the three main formulations in the range to be sold on a global basis.
Methylisothiazolinone is approved for leave-on and rinse-off cosmetic applications at amaximum level of 100 ppm active ingredient. With the recent registration of Neoloneby the Japanese government in November 2004, Neolone has now been independentlyapproved for leave-on and rinse-off applications in the US, Japan and Europe.
End-use product applications include skin care lotions and creams, body moisturizers, sun care products (including those with avobenzone), hair gels and wipes as well as all types of rinse-off applications.
The final key to global certification came on June 21, 2005 when the Official Journal of the European Union confirmed thatmethylisothiazolinone is now included in Annex VI to the Cosmetic Directive76/768/EEC with a maximum authorized concentration of 0.01 per cent (100ppm).
The company says that its Neolone preservatives range offers broad spectrum control as well as ease of use in manufacturing for globalformulations. Within the Neolone family of products, on top of having an alternative to parabens, customers can also use the formulations in place of formaldehyde donors.
The family of preservatives are all broad spectrum bactericide formulations that are effective at low use levels. The family includes Neolone 950, which is said to be effective for a wide variety of cosmetics products, as well as Neolone PE and Neolone MxP, which are both aimed at leave-on products.
The fact that the Neolone family of preservatives has now been granted global approval gives some of the biggest players in the cosmetics and personal care industry a new option for preservatives - an area that often throws up problems for many formulators.
In the past much controversy has surrounded the Paraben family of preservatives in particular, with a number of studies linking the chemical to medical problems in unborn babies, as well as being young babies.
The fact that, until recently, there has not been many viable options to parabens for cosmetics formulators, means that Rohm and Haas may now be tapping into a market with considerable potential, particularly in Europe where the concentration of parabens in cosmetics formulas is strictly regulated.
