Due to their antimicrobial activity, parabens are commonly used as preservatives in a variety of consumer goods including cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. During the production, usage and disposal of these products, parabens are released into the environment. In this study, the persistence of three widely used parabens; methyl-, propyl-, and butyl paraben in soil and their toxic effects on the soil invertebrate, Eisenia fetida was investigated. The results of this study indicate that selected parabens do not negatively affect the survival, growth, and reproduction of Eisenia fetida up to 1000 mg Kg⁻¹ concentration. Further, these parabens (0–1000 mg Kg⁻¹) exhibited a low persistence in soil with more than 90 % disappearing within three days. In contrast, only 16–54 % degradation of parabens occurred in frozen soil suggesting a microbial role in parabens degradation. This study demonstrates that methyl-, propyl-, and butyl parabens degrade rapidly in the terrestrial environment and therefore, are unlikely to pose a threat to species such as Eisenia fetida. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the toxicity of parabens to earthworms.

由于其抗微生物活性，对羟基苯甲酸酯通常在各种消费品（包括化妆品，药​​品和个人护理产品）中用作防腐剂。在生产，使用和处置这些产品期间，对羟基苯甲酸酯会释放到环境中。在这项研究中，三种广泛使用的对羟基苯甲酸酯的持久性；研究了土壤中对羟基苯甲酸甲酯，对羟基苯甲酸丙酯和对羟基苯甲酸丁酯及其对土壤无脊椎动物Eisenia fetida的毒性作用。这项研究的结果表明，选定的对羟基苯甲酸酯类不会对高达1000 mg Kg ^-1浓度的费氏艾塞球虫的存活，生长和繁殖产生负面影响。此外，这些对羟基苯甲酸酯（0–1000 mg Kg ^-1）在土壤中的持久性较低，三天内消失了90％以上。相比之下，冷冻土壤中对羟基苯甲酸酯的降解只有16-54％，这表明微生物在对羟基苯甲酸酯的降解中起作用。这项研究表明，对羟基苯甲酸甲酯，对羟基苯甲酸丙酯和对羟基苯甲酸丁酯在陆地环境中会迅速降解，因此，不太可能对费氏艾森氏菌等物种构成威胁。据我们所知，这是关于对羟基苯甲酸酯类对the毒性的第一份报告。