EWG Skin Deep® | What is ACRYLAMIDE

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Data: Robust

Acrylamide

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (high), Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (high), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (high), and Occupational hazards (high)

SYNONYMS

2PROPENAMIDE and ACRYLAMIDE

Unacceptable

Unacceptable: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

MODERATE

Cancer
MODERATE

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
MODERATE

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
HIGH

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

muscle/joint soreness	2 products
facial moisturizer/treatment	1 products

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Known human respiratory toxicant	EPA Hazardous Air Pollutants
Classified as a high human health priority	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Classified as expected to be toxic or harmful	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Classified as toxic or harmful	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling
One or more animal studies show classified as toxic effects at moderate doses (low dose studies may be unavailable for this ingredient)	EPA Toxic Release Inventory PBTs
reproductive - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed/unreview: published lit review or major tox study	National Library of Medicine HazMap

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Violation of government restrictions - Banned or found unsafe for use in cosmetics	Canada - Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetics Ingredients
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - any	Open scientific literature

Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Classified as irritant	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling

Occupational hazards

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Allowed workplace exposures restricted to low doses	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling

Cancer

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Possible human carcinogen	Int'l Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Carcinogens
Possible human carcinogen	EPA Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)
Possible human carcinogen	NTP Report on Carcinogens, 11th Edition
Possible human carcinogen	California EPA Proposition 65
Possible human carcinogen	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling
Limited evidence of carcinogenicity	Amer Conf of Gov't Industrial Hygienists - Carcinogens
Limited evidence of carcinogenicity	NIOSH Occupational Carcinogens
Possible mutagen	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling
Cancer - limited evidence	Silent Spring's Mammary Carcinogens Reviews Database

Developmental/reproductive toxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Possible human developmental toxicant	California EPA Proposition 65
Limited evidence of reproductive toxicity	National Library of Medicine HazMap
Limited evidence of developmental toxicity	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling
Limited evidence of reproductive toxicity	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information

Allergies/immunotoxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Possible human any toxicant or allergen	Open scientific literature
Limited evidence of immune system toxicity or allergies	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling
Limited evidence of immune system toxicity or allergies	National Library of Medicine HazMap
Limited evidence of any toxicity or allergies	Open scientific literature

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Wildlife and environmental toxicity	Open scientific literature
Suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Neurotoxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
nervous system - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed/unreview: published lit review or major tox study	National Library of Medicine HazMap

Persistence and bioaccumulation

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Not suspected to be bioaccumulative	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Not suspected to be persistent	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Data gaps

CONCERN	REFERENCE
9099 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical	NLM PubMed

EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 2005. Office of Air. The 112(b)1 Hazardous Air Pollutants List (as modified). Last modified: 12 Dec 2005.
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
CPS&Q (Consumer Products Safety & Quality) formely known as ECB (European Chemicals Bureau). 2008. Classification and Labelling: Chemicals: Annex VI of Directive 67/548/EEC through the 31st ATP.
EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 1999. Toxics Release Inventory Program. PBT Chemical Rule.
NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2006. HazMap — Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Agents.
Health Canada. 2007. List of Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetic Ingredients. Canada's Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist. March 2007.
Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer). 2008. Overall Evaluations of Carcinogenicity to Humans, as evaluated in IARC Monographs Volumes 1-99 (a total of 935 agents, mixtures and exposures).
EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 2008. Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). Evidence for human carcinogenicity based on 1986-2005 guidelines.
NTP (National Toxicology Program). 2005. Report on Carcinogens, Eleventh Edition; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Toxicology Program.
California EPA (California Environmental Protection Agency). 9/2008. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. Chemicals known to the State to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.
ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists) 2008. ACGIH cancer classification system. www.acgih.org.
NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health). 2006. NIOSH Carcinogens List (Potential occupational carcinogens). http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npotocca.html.
Rudel RA, KR Attfield, JN Schifano and JG Brody. Chemicals Causing Mammary Gland Tumors in Animals Signal New Directions for Epidemiology, Chemicals Testing, and Risk Assessment for Breast Cancer Prevention. CANCER Supplement. 2007 Jun 15;109(12):2635-2666.
ED (Environmental Defense). 2006. Scorecard _ The Pollution Information Site. http://www.scorecard.org.
NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.

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 SCORES

Hazard 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.

NONE LIMITED FAIR GOOD ROBUST

Low Availability

Moderate Availability

High Availability