EWG Skin Deep® | What is POTASSIUM OLEATE

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED™

Data: Limited

Potassium Oleate

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (low), Multiple, additive exposure sources (low), and Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (low)

SYNONYMS

9-OCTADECENOIC ACID (9Z)-, POTASSIUM SALT, 9-OCTADECENOIC ACID, POTASSIUM SALT, 9OCTADECENOIC ACID (Z), POTASSIUM SALT, POTASSIUM 9-OCTADECENOATE, POTASSIUM OLEATE, and POTASSIUM SALT 9-OCTADECENOIC ACID

Restricted

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

Potassium Oleate is a potassium salt of oleic acid.

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

body wash/cleanser	24 products
liquid hand soap	15 products
facial cleanser	14 products
shampoo	5 products
bar soap	3 products
baby soap	2 products
beard cleanser	2 products

Multiple, additive exposure sources

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Used in food or as an additive with limited or no toxicity information available	FDA Everything Added to Food
Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in food	FDA Food Additive Status

Allergies/immunotoxicity

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

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - any	Open scientific literature

Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)

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

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Data gaps

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

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

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

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.
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.
Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
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