# does methyl paraben slow fruit fly growth?



## JasonPannell (Mar 16, 2008)

Howdy all,
i was wondering if anyone noticed a slow of growth in their cultures when using methyl paraben? 

Methylparaben is commonly used as a fungicide in Drosophila food media. Usage of methylparaben is known to slow Drosophila growth rate in the larval and pupal stages.

i got that off of wikipedia
Methylparaben - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and if it does slow growth why not use Calcium Propionate Powder?


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## Paul G (Feb 27, 2007)

Its funny you posted this as I saw it on Wiki months ago and kept forgetting to post a thread about it on here.

The problem with the statement "Usage of methylparaben is known to slow Drosophila growth rate in the larval and pupal stages." on the wiki article is that there isn't a palce at the bottm of the page where that was cited from.

I only found one place that came up in a google search for that statement and it was a Japanese Methylparaben wholesale comapny. I should of bookmarked it.


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## packer43064 (Nov 30, 2010)

If that was the case, noone would be using it. ALOT of people use it in their recipes, even sponsors use methylparaben in their recipes.

Maybe if your crazy and using 4 tablespoons per culture then I'm sure it could happen. It either affects the culture in the smallest of degrees that it isn't noticeable in the small quanities that people use in their recipes or it's total BS.

I wouldn't trust WIKI anyways.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

I saw that too, in fact, I posted it on here somewhere. Still, I love the results I've always gotten with methyl paraben. My production is great.
Doug


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## AsylumDart (Sep 20, 2018)

Pumilo said:


> I saw that too, in fact, I posted it on here somewhere. Still, I love the results I've always gotten with methyl paraben. My production is great.
> Doug


Would Methyl paraben be safe with springtails? Like in your clay recipe?


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