Urea
- Products with the EWG VERIFIED mark have met use restrictions and warnings based on EWG review of company data.
Other Concerns
Enhanced skin absorption and Use restrictions (moderate)SYNONYMS
Restricted
Restricted: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient without adequate substantiation
Urea is a naturally occuring compound and normal metabolic constituent in biological organisms; byproduct of protein metabolism; manufactured synthetically on large scale.
Common concerns
See how this product scores for common concerns.
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LOWCancer
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LOWAllergies & Immunotoxicity
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LOWDevelopmental and Reproductive Toxicity
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MODERATEUse Restrictions
Ingredient concerns
- CONCERNS
- DATA SOURCES
Products with this Ingredient
foundation | 68 products |
mask | 51 products |
facial moisturizer/treatment | 50 products |
concealer | 42 products |
serums & essences | 41 products |
moisturizer | 38 products |
foot moisturizer | 20 products |
toners/astringents | 16 products |
foot cleansing | 13 products |
around-eye cream | 10 products |
hand cream | 10 products |
exfoliant/scrub | 10 products |
facial cleanser | 8 products |
daily use with SPF | 8 products |
mascara | 8 products |
shampoo | 7 products |
hair treatment/serum | 7 products |
shaving cream | 4 products |
conditioner | 4 products |
glitter | 4 products |
blush | 4 products |
foot odor control | 4 products |
body wash/cleanser | 3 products |
depilatory | 3 products |
lip balm | 3 products |
anti-aging | 2 products |
hair-loss treatment | 2 products |
eye liner | 2 products |
makeup removing wipes | 2 products |
BB cream | 2 products |
bath oil/salts/soak | 2 products |
muscle/joint soreness | 2 products |
damaged skin treatment | 2 products |
nail treatment | 2 products |
2 products | |
hair color and bleaching | 2 products |
eyelash glue | 1 products |
beard care | 1 products |
makeup primer | 1 products |
sunless tanning | 1 products |
makeup remover | 1 products |
antiperspirant/deodorant | 1 products |
hand sanitizer | 1 products |
depilatory (men's) | 1 products |
skin fading/lightener | 1 products |
cuticle treatment | 1 products |
styling gel/lotion | 1 products |
body firming lotion | 1 products |
recreational sunscreen | 1 products |
facial cleansing wipes | 1 products |
styling mousse/foam | 1 products |
Enhanced skin absorption
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Penetration enhancer | Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments |
Use restrictions
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Restricted in cosmetics (recommendations or requirements) - use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - Use is restricted in Canadian cosmetics | Canada - Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetics Ingredients |
Cancer
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Limited or incomplete evidence of cancer according to safety/hazard data – scientific review cannot classify as human carcinogen due to data gaps | Open scientific literature |
Data gaps
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Insufficient data to determine safety | Open scientific literature |
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 |
94887 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical | NLM PubMed |
Multiple, additive exposure sources
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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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 |
Ecotoxicology
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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Not suspected to be an environmental toxin | Environment Canada Domestic Substance List |
Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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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 |
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Not suspected to be persistent | Environment Canada Domestic Substance List |
Not suspected to be bioaccumulative | Environment Canada Domestic Substance List |
Informational
CONCERN | REFERENCE |
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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.
- Health Canada. 2007. List of Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetic Ingredients. Canada's Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist. March 2007.
- Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
- NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.
- 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.
- EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
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 SCORESHazard 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.