EWG Skin Deep® | What is BENTONITE

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED®

Data: Fair

Bentonite

Products with the EWG VERIFIED mark have met use restrictions and warnings based on EWG review of company data.

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (moderate)

SYNONYMS

● A COLLOIDAL CLAY. CONSISTS PRIMARILY OF MONTMORILLONITE.

● BENTONITE

● SOAP CLAY

Restricted

Restricted: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient without adequate substantiation

Bentonite is a native hydrated colloidal aluminum silicate clay. This ingredient is not anapproved colorant for the US. To identify the colorant allowed for use in the European Union (EU), theINCI Name CI 77004 must be used, except for hair d ye products.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

LOW

Cancer
LOW

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
LOW

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
MODERATE

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

mask	184 products
foundation	52 products
recreational sunscreen	48 products
facial cleanser	21 products
exfoliant/scrub	20 products
hair styling aide	19 products
concealer	19 products
body wash/cleanser	15 products
shampoo	15 products
mascara	14 products
facial moisturizer/treatment	14 products
brow liner	13 products
eye shadow	13 products
lipstick	13 products
shaving cream (men's)	11 products
antiperspirant/deodorant	11 products
moisturizer	10 products
styling gel/lotion	10 products
bar soap	10 products
baby sunscreen	8 products
around-eye cream	7 products
hair color and bleaching	7 products
daily use with SPF	6 products
	6 products
makeup primer	5 products
serums & essences	5 products
bath oil/salts/soak	5 products
hair treatment/serum	5 products
baby powder	5 products
shaving cream	4 products
eye liner	4 products
toothpaste	4 products
nail polish	3 products
hand cream	3 products
toners/astringents	2 products
tooth whitening	2 products
pore strips	2 products
bubble bath	1 products
hand sanitizer	1 products
antiperspirant/deodorant (men's)	1 products
body spray	1 products
body firming lotion	1 products
foot cleansing	1 products
conditioner	1 products
liquid hand soap	1 products
foot moisturizer	1 products
eyelash glue	1 products
baby lotion	1 products
setting powder/spray	1 products
hair removal waxes	1 products
anti-aging	1 products

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Recommended restricted in cosmetics - use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - Product type restrictions or differences noted in safety assessment by industry panel	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Data gaps

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Risk assessment method deficiencies and data gaps - Maximum reported "as used" concentration is basis of safety assessment by industry safety panel (Cosmetic Ingredient Review, CIR) - implicit safe concentration limit in product	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
3924 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical	NLM PubMed

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Not suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmful	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Classified as a low human health priority	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Persistence and bioaccumulation

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

Multiple, additive exposure sources

CONCERN	REFERENCE
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
Industry or government recommendations for safe use: restrictions on concentration, impurities, product types, or manufacturing methods - any	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). 2006. CIR Compendium, containing abstracts, discussions, and conclusions of CIR cosmetic ingredient safety assessments. Washington DC.
NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
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 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