EWG Skin Deep® | What is ZINC PCA

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED®

Data: Fair

Zinc Pca

This ingredient’s score is higher if used in products that are inhalable (e.g., sprays, powders) because of respiratory concerns.
Products with the EWG VERIFIED mark have met use restrictions and warnings based on EWG review of company data.

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (high), Persistence and bioaccumulation (moderate), and Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (low)

SYNONYMS

● PCA, ZINC SALT

● ZINC PCA

● ZINC SALT PCA

Restricted

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

Zinc PCA is a zinc salt of PCA (q.v.).

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

LOW

Cancer
LOW

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
LOW

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
HIGH

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

facial moisturizer/treatment	25 products
moisturizer	24 products
serums & essences	20 products
shampoo	18 products
conditioner	14 products
facial cleanser	12 products
hair treatment/serum	11 products
body wash/cleanser	10 products
foundation	10 products
toners/astringents	8 products
makeup primer	7 products
exfoliant/scrub	6 products
lip gloss	6 products
hair spray	3 products
mask	3 products
around-eye cream	3 products
bar soap	3 products
styling gel/lotion	2 products
hair-loss treatment	1 products
antiperspirant/deodorant	1 products
makeup remover	1 products
	1 products
body spray	1 products
damaged skin treatment	1 products
setting powder/spray	1 products
recreational sunscreen	1 products
other eye makeup	1 products
after sun product	1 products
anti-aging	1 products
hair styling aide	1 products

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Violation of government restrictions - Restricted in cosmetics; use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - any	Open scientific literature
Restricted in cosmetics (recommendations or requirements) - use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - any	CosIng

Persistence and bioaccumulation

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Persistent, bioaccumulative in wildlife	Canada PBTs - Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics (ARET)

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

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

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
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/ .
EC (Environment Canada). 1994. Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics (ARET). ARET substance list of persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals.
ED (Environmental Defense). 2006. Scorecard _ The Pollution Information Site. http://www.scorecard.org.
EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 1999. Toxics Release Inventory Program. PBT Chemical Rule.
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