EWG Skin Deep® | What is CHROMIUM

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED™

Data: Good

Chromium

This ingredient is unacceptable for use in EWG VERIFIED products
This ingredient’s score is higher if used in products that are inhalable (e.g., sprays, powders) because of respiratory concerns.

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

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

SYNONYMS

CHROMIUM, CHROMIUM (TOTAL), CHROMIUM, DISSOLVED, CHROMIUM; CHROMIUM METAL, CR, PBDE-1, PBDE-2, and PBDE-3

Unacceptable

Unacceptable: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient

Chromium is a metallic element.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

LOW

Cancer
MODERATE

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
LOW

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
HIGH

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

bar soap	2 products
exfoliant/scrub	2 products

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Violation of government restrictions - Banned or found unsafe for use in cosmetics	CosIng

Allergies/immunotoxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Human immune and respiratory toxicant or allergen - strong evidence	Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics
Limited evidence of any toxicity or allergies	Open scientific literature

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Classified as expected to be toxic or harmful	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Classified as medium human health priority	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
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
One or more animal studies show no adverse any effects at high doses	EPA Toxic Release Inventory PBTs

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Wildlife and environmental toxicity	EPA Clean Water Act - Priority Pollutants
Not suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Cancer

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Not likely to be carcinogenic in humans	Open scientific literature

Persistence and bioaccumulation

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

Data gaps

CONCERN	REFERENCE
81845 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical	NLM PubMed

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/ .
AOEC (Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics). 2009. AEOC exposures codes and asthmagen designation.
Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
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