EWG Skin Deep® | What is LAURETH-12

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED®

Data: Limited

Laureth 12

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.

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (low), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (low), and Contamination concerns (high)

SYNONYMS

● 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36-DODECAOXAOCTATETRACONTAN-1-OL

● LAURETH-12

● PEG-12 LAURYL ETHER

● POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL 600 LAURYL ETHER

● POLYOXYETHYLENE (12) LAURYL ETHER

Restricted

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

Laureth-12 is a synthetic polymer composed of lauryl alcohol and PEG (polyethylene glycol). Due to the presence of PEG, this ingredient may contain potentially toxic manufacturing impurities such as 1,4-dioxane.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

LOW

Cancer
LOW

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
LOW

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
LOW

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

lipstick	62 products
concealer	24 products
foundation	19 products
facial moisturizer/treatment	9 products
hair color and bleaching	7 products
CC cream	6 products
makeup primer	5 products
serums & essences	4 products
bronzer/highlighter	3 products
setting powder/spray	2 products
moisturizer	2 products
body firming lotion	1 products
mascara	1 products
around-eye cream	1 products
styling mousse/foam	1 products
hair treatment/serum	1 products
after shave	1 products
conditioner	1 products
hand cream	1 products
facial powder	1 products
lip gloss	1 products
mask	1 products

Contamination concerns

Chemical
ETHYLENE OXIDE
1,4-DIOXANE

Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
any irritation - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed	Open scientific literature

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - Safe for use in cosmetics with some qualifications	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Data gaps

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

Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
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.

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