GreenScreen Reveals Hazard 'Hotspots' for Preservatives Used in Cosmetics

Skin sensitisation, skin and eye irritation and aquatic toxicity are hazard 'hotspots' for preservatives in personal care products, says US NGO the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

The group conducted hazard assessments of 16 commercial preservatives using the GreenScreen tool developed by Clean Production Action (CPA).

The hotspots were endpoints corresponding to high numbers of moderate to very high hazard scores across the group of substances:

> eight registered such scores for skin sensitisation;

> seven for skin irritation;

> 11 for eye irritation; and

> 12 for aquatic toxicity.

EDF says it has produced a baseline of toxicity information for preservatives – as a functional class of substance – which can guide efforts to develop safer alternatives, set design criteria and serve as a basis for toxicological comparison.

The GreenScreen tool provides:

> hazard scores for 18 human health, environmental and physical hazard endpoints;

> 'confidence values' for the hazard scores; and

> a benchmark score for each substance that integrates all the hazard scores and data gaps.

DMDM hydantoin generated a 'high' hazard score for carcinogenicity because it can release formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

The group says it also "consistently" found data gaps for endocrine activity, neurotoxicity and respiratory sensitisation, but the confidence values varied widely across the group.

An independent chemicals assessment clearinghouse that would provide "comprehensive, structured, transparent and comparable health and safety assessment of chemical in a centralised, web-accessible repository" is needed, it says. This could "show how a new chemistry represents an improvement over the status quo".

The project used input from several companies, including Active Micro Technologies, Beautycounter, Clariant and Seventh Generation.