Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.
EWG Home EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning EWG’s Food Scores Healthy Living App Open menu

EWG's Skin Deep®
Find products and ingredients Learn how Skin Deep® works Meet our experts Discover EWG VERIFIED™
GET UPDATES DONATE
Score legend
HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED™

Data: Limited

Symphytum Officinale (Comfrey) Leaf Extract

SEARCH PRODUCTS

Other Concerns

Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (high)

SYNONYMS

● COMFREY (SYMPHYTUM OFFICINALE) LEAF EXTRACT
● COMFREY LEAF EXTRACT
● COMFREY, SYMPHYTUM OFFICINALE, EXT.
● EXTRACT OF COMFREY LEAF
● EXTRACT OF SYMPHYTUM OFFICINALE LEAF
● SYMPHYTUM OFFICINALE (COMFREY) LEAF EXTRACT
● SYMPHYTUM OFFICINALIS LEAF EXTRACT

Restricted

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

Symphytum Officinale Leaf Extract is an extract of the leaves of the comfrey, Symphytumofficinale.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

  • MODERATE
    Cancer
  • LOW
    Allergies & Immunotoxicity
  • LOW
    Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
  • LOW
    Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

  • CONCERNS
  • DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

Expand content Collapse content
moisturizer20 products
conditioner16 products
shampoo15 products
hair treatment/serum12 products
facial moisturizer/treatment11 products
mask8 products
styling gel/lotion7 products
hair styling aide6 products
exfoliant/scrub5 products
body wash/cleanser4 products
anti-aging4 products
liquid hand soap3 products
hair spray3 products
muscle/joint soreness3 products
body firming lotion3 products
around-eye cream2 products
hand sanitizer2 products
facial cleanser2 products
serums & essences2 products
bubble bath1 products
diaper cream1 products
bar soap1 products
shaving cream (men's)1 products
lip balm with SPF1 products
baby lotion1 products
makeup primer1 products
after shave1 products
cuticle treatment1 products
tanning oil1 products
lip balm1 products
bath oil/salts/soak1 products
after sun product1 products
hand cream1 products
toners/astringents1 products

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Known human any toxicantOpen scientific literature
Known human any toxicantOpen scientific literature
Limited evidence of any toxicityFDA Dietary Supplement Concerns

Cancer

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Possible human carcinogenOpen scientific literature
One or more animal studies show tumor formation at low dosesOpen scientific literature
One or more in vitro tests on mammalian cells show positive mutation resultsOpen scientific literature

Data gaps

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
69 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemicalNLM PubMed
  • Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
  • FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). 1993. Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Unsubstantiated Claims and Documented Health Hazards in the Dietary Supplement Marketplace. Illnesses and Injuries Associated With the Use of Selected Dietary Supplements.
  • 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.

Score legend
WEIGHT-OF-EVIDENCE APPROACH

A product’s hazard score is not an average of the ingredients’ hazard scores. It is calculated using a weight-of-evidence approach that factors in all of the hazards or health impacts associated with the ingredients.

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
NONE

Ingredients have not been assessed.

LIMITED-FAIR

There is only a modest volume of research.

GOOD-ROBUST

Ingredients have been studied extensively.

Can’t find your product?

Enter the ingredients in EWG’s Build Your Own Report tool to get an approximate score for that product.

BUILD YOUR OWN REPORT

News & updates

Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
RESEARCH
Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
RESEARCH
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
NEWS RELEASE
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
NEWS RELEASE
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
READ ALL ARTICLES
Skindeep Healthy Living App

EWG research
on the go

Find personal care, cleaning, and food products on the EWG Healthy Living app.

DOWNLOAD THE APP