We combine peer-reviewed research, data analysis and groundbreaking consumer tools with expert communications and advocacy to bring about changes in policy, consumer demand and market behavior. These combined elements – research and action – are what make EWG such a powerful force, with an outsize return on investment, in the environmental health movement. 

Change the market

EWG is an undisputed scientific leader in the clean living movement. Our pioneering EWG VERIFIED® and Reviewed for Science programs are filling an information gap for formulators who are left with little to no health and safety guidance from the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency, which have taken a largely hands-off approach to this industry. 

EWG has been called the de facto regulator when it comes to chemicals found in everyday products – and we are proud to play this role while we wait for Washington to set standards that will meaningfully protect the public from toxic chemicals. Not only does EWG help brands formulate to our standards, we also conduct our own health and safety toxicological reviews of ingredients – filling the data gap for so many looking for more information on ingredients they use every day. 

Our EWG VERIFIED community is filled with over 200 brands committed to making products you can trust. It includes over 2,000 products we’ve identified as safer for you and your family, from personal care products, to cleaners to diapers. And our EWG VERIFIED community is growing – in 2022, we added 45 new brands that sell products in all 50 states. 

Your support is making this growth and change possible. 

Advocate for safety 

In 2022, EWG’s scientific and policy leadership helped pave the way for several significant new regulations and billions of dollars for cleanup of the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS. 

Our efforts this year to confront the PFAS contamination crisis paid off in two big ways. First, the EPA in its PFAS Strategic Roadmap progress report this November reiterated its commitment to set a national drinking water standard for PFOA and PFOS, the two most notorious PFAS, by the end of 2023.

And the EPA proposed to designate PFOA and PFOS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law. EWG President Ken Cook said, “For decades, polluters dumped toxic PFOA and PFOS into scores of communities across the country with impunity. [The] proposal will give the EPA and those communities critical new tools to finally hold those polluters accountable and force them to clean up their mess.” 

EWG will keep advocating for stricter chemical safety laws to protect the health of everyone, everywhere. 

Lead with science

EWG’s 2022 pesticide mapping project is a prime example of what we do best – translating complex data about environmental exposures into something personal, visual and actionable.

Our peer-reviewed analysis found increased agricultural pesticide use (and related toxicity risks) in areas of with more people of color and limited resources. The paper was published in the journal Science of the Total Environment in September 2022. This groundbreaking tool makes what was formerly a complex environmental health problem accessible, by turning pesticide use data captured in spreadsheets – amounts, chemicals and locations – into a searchable map, with areas color-coded by health hazards. EWG scientists were awarded the 2022 Presidential Award from the Ventura County chapter of the NAACP for this work.

Making a positive long-term, meaningful impact on environmental health is rare, especially if you’re fighting against multibillion-dollar industries, lobbyists and decades of political inertia. And yet that’s exactly what EWG does year after year.  

We achieve big wins in market change and toxic chemical regulation because of supporters like you.

You can read our peer-reviewed articles here and explore all of our cutting-edge research projects here. 

Protect our health

For almost three decades, EWG has investigated the chemicals in personal care products, drinking water, food, household cleaners and other consumer products, like baby diapers.

Most products on the market today are made with chemicals that were introduced several decades ago. Our scientists have found that exposure to many of these chemicals are related to cancer, asthma, birth defects, fertility problems and other health issues.

Our laboratory-backed investigations have held government and corporations accountable, inspired state and federal laws and regulations to ban or restrict contaminants and pollutants and created dynamic new markets for consumer products that are healthy by design.

With your continued support, we can continue to transform the chemical safety movement into one that proactively protects public health, sets safety standards that are health protective, rejects chemicals of concern in consumer products, and works to reduce the health burden placed on our bodies by everyday exposures to toxic chemical ingredients and contaminants.

We’re grateful for your support this year, helping us achieve these changes and more! If you are able to include EWG in your year-end support, please make your contribution today here.

A snapshot of what your gift will support in 2023

EWG believes the creative communication of science has the power to move minds, markets and policy. Our ambitious goal for EWG’s 30th anniversary is to raise critical support for new and innovative testing projects that will build pressure for market and policy solutions.

EWG’s first-ever report focused on testing for pesticides in baby food, so there’s no better way to celebrate turning 30 than by going back to where we began – the lab.

With your support 
we will be able to . . . 

Help consumers avoid contaminants in drinking water. EWG will use our Tap Water Database to help consumers find the most effective filter for contaminants in their water – we will be conducting tests on 10 of the top water filter brands to analyze drinking water before and after it is filtered. 

Hold PFAS polluters accountable. The stories of people and communities harmed by PFAS pollution are powerful. Firefighters face some of the worst occupational exposures to these chemicals and resulting health issues. We want to help clean up the pollution and find solutions for firefighters who have already been exposed. We will test the blood of 50 firefighters from different firehouses and use this biomonitoring data to bolster our urgent call for swift regulation and cleanup of the PFAS that firefighters are exposed to every day.  

Test food and people for harmful chemicals. EWG researchers discovered that a highly toxic agricultural chemical, chlormequat, is contaminating our food at levels that may be harmful to children’s health. We will use original testing methods to push for safety regulations to protect people from exposure to this chemical, which can harm the nervous and reproductive systems and the developing fetus. 

Track endocrine-disrupting chemicals. EWG’s Dirty Dozen Guide to Endocrine Disruptors has been viewed nearly 1 million times. We’re hoping to further help people reduce their exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals by taking a deep dive into where these chemicals are still found – and giving you the tools you need to avoid them. 

Test cord blood. EWG’s groundbreaking work testing cord blood samples from 10 Americans changed the debate about how chemicals affect newborn babies and how we interact with chemicals every day. We want to find out how many more chemicals we might find by testing today – and how market changes may affect what’s present in cord blood