Bronopol

Product Name: Bronopol

Physical & Chemical Properties:

Description:
bronopol is used in consumer products as an effective preservative agent, as well as a wide variety of industrial applications (almost any industrial water system is a potential environment for bacterial growth, leading to slime and corrosion problems – in many of these systems bronopol can be a highly effective treatment).
The use of bronopol in personal care products (cosmetics, toiletries) has declined since the late 1980s due to the potential formation of nitrosamines. While bronopol is not in itself a nitrosating agent, under conditions where it decomposes (alkaline solution and/or elevated temperatures) it can liberate nitrite and low levels of formaldehyde and these decomposition products can react with any contaminant secondary amines or amides in a personal care formulation to produce significant levels of nitrosamines (due to the toxicity of these substances, the term ‘significant’ means levels as low as 10s of parts per billion).
Manufacturers of personal care products are therefore instructed by regulatory authorities to avoid the formation of nitrosamines which might mean removing amines or amides from the formulation, removing bronopol from a formulation, or using nitrosamine inhibitors.
Bronopol has been restricted for use in cosmetics in Canada.