Polyacrylamide
- Products with the EWG VERIFIED mark have met the program’s impurity and use restrictions based on EWG's review of the company's data.
Other Concerns
Use restrictions (high), Persistence and bioaccumulation (moderate), Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (moderate), Ecotoxicology (low), and Contamination concerns (high)SYNONYMS
Restricted
Restricted: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient without adequate substantiation
Polyacrylamide is a synthetic polymer of acrylamide.
Common concerns
See how this product scores for common concerns.
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LOWCancer
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LOWAllergies & Immunotoxicity
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LOWDevelopmental and Reproductive Toxicity
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HIGHUse Restrictions
Ingredient concerns
- CONCERNS
- DATA SOURCES
Products with this Ingredient
facial moisturizer/treatment | 110 products |
brow liner | 47 products |
eye shadow | 47 products |
bronzer/highlighter | 33 products |
serums & essences | 33 products |
moisturizer | 30 products |
hair styling aide | 30 products |
around-eye cream | 28 products |
hair treatment/serum | 26 products |
daily use with SPF | 26 products |
mask | 21 products |
conditioner | 14 products |
styling gel/lotion | 12 products |
makeup primer | 12 products |
anti-aging | 8 products |
hand cream | 8 products |
sunless tanning | 8 products |
body firming lotion | 7 products |
facial cleanser | 6 products |
concealer | 4 products |
after shave | 4 products |
blush | 4 products |
cuticle treatment | 3 products |
BB cream | 3 products |
facial powder | 3 products |
foundation | 3 products |
recreational sunscreen | 3 products |
exfoliant/scrub | 3 products |
body oil | 2 products |
tanning oil | 2 products |
2 products | |
makeup remover | 2 products |
skin fading/lightener | 2 products |
setting powder/spray | 1 products |
hand sanitizer | 1 products |
styling mousse/foam | 1 products |
baby oil | 1 products |
shampoo | 1 products |
damaged skin treatment | 1 products |
shaving cream | 1 products |
foot moisturizer | 1 products |
hair spray | 1 products |
toners/astringents | 1 products |
Contamination concerns
Chemical |
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ACRYLAMIDE |
Use restrictions
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Violation of government restrictions - Restricted in cosmetics; use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - any | Open scientific literature |
Restricted in cosmetics (recommendations or requirements) - use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - any | CosIng |
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - Safe for use in cosmetics with some qualifications | Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments |
Recommendation to minimize use in cosmetics - any | Open scientific literature |
Persistence and bioaccumulation
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Persistent or bioaccumulative and moderate to high toxicity concern in humans | Environment Canada Domestic Substance List |
Not suspected to be bioaccumulative | Environment Canada Domestic Substance List |
Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Classified as expected to be toxic or harmful | Environment Canada Domestic Substance List |
Classified as a low human health priority | Environment Canada Domestic Substance List |
Ecotoxicology
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Suspected to be an environmental toxin and be persistent or bioaccumulative | Environment Canada Domestic Substance List |
Suspected to be an environmental toxin | Environment Canada Domestic Substance List |
Data gaps
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Considered safe based on assumption of low absorption | Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments |
164370 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical | NLM PubMed |
Multiple, additive exposure sources
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in food | FDA Food Additive Status |
Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in food | FDA Everything Added to Food |
Informational
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Industry or government recommendations for safe use: restrictions on concentration, impurities, product types, or manufacturing methods - Determined safe for use in cosmetics up to a specified concentration limit | Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments |
- Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
- European Commission. 2013. Cosing, the European Commission database with information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. Accessed on March 1, 2013 at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cosmetics/cosing/ .
- CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). 2006. CIR Compendium, containing abstracts, discussions, and conclusions of CIR cosmetic ingredient safety assessments. Washington DC.
- EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
- NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.
- FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) 2006. Food Additive Status List. Downloaded from http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Edms/opa-appa.html, Oct 16, 2006.
- FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). 2008. EAFUS [Everything Added to Food]: A Food Additive Database. FDA Office of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
Understanding scores
Cosmetics and personal care products are not required to be tested for safety before being allowed on the market. The Skin Deep® scoring system was designed to help the public understand whether a product is safe to use or whether it contains ingredients of concern.
Every product and ingredient in Skin Deep gets a two-part score – one for hazard and one for data availability. The safest products score well by both measures, with a low hazard rating and a fair or better data availability rating.
HOW WE DETERMINE SCORESHazard score
The Skin Deep ingredient hazard score, from 1 to 10, reflects known and suspected hazards linked to the ingredients. The EWG VERIFIED® mark means a product meets EWG’s strictest criteria for transparency and health.
Data availability
The Skin Deep data availability rating reflects the number of scientific studies about the product or ingredient in the published scientific literature.