In this review by Darbre and Harvey, published in the Journal of Applied Toxicology, the authors consider the evidence that parabens can enable development in human breast epithelial cells.

The authors find that “parabens can cause DNA damage at high concentrations in the short term but more work is needed to investigate long-term, low-dose mixtures. The ability of parabens to enable multiple cancer hallmarks in human breast epithelial cells provides grounds for regulatory review of the implications of the presence of parabens in human breast tissue.”