EWG Skin Deep® | What is HYDROQUINONE

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Data: Good

Hydroquinone

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (high), Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (high), and Ecotoxicology (low)

SYNONYMS

● 1,4-BENZENEDIOL

● 1,4-DIHYDROXYBENZENE

● 1,4BENZENEDIOL

● 4-HYDROXYPHENOL

● HYDROQUINONE

● P-DIOXYBENZENE

● P-HYDROXYPHENOL

Unacceptable

Unacceptable: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient

Hydroquinone is an aromatic organic compound. In the United States, Hydroquinone may be used as an active ingredient in OTC drug products. When used as an active drug ingredient, the established name is Hydroquinone.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

MODERATE

Cancer
MODERATE

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
LOW

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
HIGH

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

facial moisturizer/treatment	4 products
skin fading/lightener	3 products
nail glue	1 products
moisturizer	1 products

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Violation of government restrictions - Banned or found unsafe for use in cosmetics	CosIng
Violation of industry recommendations - Restricted in cosmetics; use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - Safe for brief discontinuous use followed by thorough rinsing	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
Restricted in cosmetics (recommendations or requirements) - use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - Use is restricted in Canadian cosmetics	Canada - Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetics Ingredients
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - any	CTFA International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary and Handbook
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - Safe for use in cosmetics with some qualifications	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

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
One or more animal studies show classified as toxic effects at low doses	EPA Categorized List of Inert Pesticide Ingredients
Limited evidence of sense organ toxicity	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information
Limited evidence of cardiovascular or blood toxicity	National Library of Medicine HazMap
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

Allergies/immunotoxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Human skin toxicant or allergen - strong evidence	EWG Assessment of Open Scientific Literature
Human skin toxicant or allergen - strong evidence	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
Limited evidence of immune system toxicity or allergies	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information
Limited evidence of immune system toxicity or allergies	National Library of Medicine HazMap

Cancer

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Limited evidence of carcinogenicity	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling
Limited evidence of carcinogenicity	Amer Conf of Gov't Industrial Hygienists - Carcinogens
Cancer - limited evidence	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information
Cancer - limited evidence	CTFA International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary and Handbook
Limited or incomplete evidence of cancer according to safety/hazard data – government assessment cannot classify as human carcinogen due to data gaps	Int'l Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Carcinogens

Developmental/reproductive toxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Limited evidence of reproductive toxicity	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Wildlife and environmental toxicity	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling
Suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

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
6109 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical	NLM PubMed

Informational

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Industry or government recommendations for safe use: restrictions on concentration, impurities, product types, or manufacturing methods - Safe for brief discontinuous use followed by thorough rinsing	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Persistence and bioaccumulation

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

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.
Health Canada. 2007. List of Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetic Ingredients. Canada's Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist. March 2007.
CTFA (Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association). 2006. International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary and Handbook, 11th Edition. Color Additive Information. Washington, DC.
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.
EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 1987 & 2005. Office of Pesticide Programs. Inert (other) Pesticide Ingredients in Pesticide Products - Categorized List of Inert (other) Pesticide Ingredients.
ED (Environmental Defense). 2006. Scorecard _ The Pollution Information Site. http://www.scorecard.org.
NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2006. HazMap — Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Agents.
EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 1999. Toxics Release Inventory Program. PBT Chemical Rule.
EWG Assessment of Open Scientific Literature
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.
ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists) 2008. ACGIH cancer classification system. www.acgih.org.
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).
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