EWG Skin Deep® | What is RETINAL

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED®

Data: Good

Retinal

This ingredient is unacceptable for use in EWG VERIFIED products

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (moderate), Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (moderate), Ecotoxicology (low), and Biochemical or cellular level changes (high)

SYNONYMS

● (ALL-E)- 2,4,6,8-NONATETRAENAL, 3,7-DIMETHYL-9-(2,6,6-TRIMETHYL-1-CYCLOHEXEN-1-YL)-

● 2,4,6,8-NONATETRAENAL, 3,7-DIMETHYL-9-(2,6,6-TRIMETHYL-1-CYCLOHEXEN-1-YL)-, (ALL-E)-

● 3,7-DIMETHYL-9-(2,6,6-TRIMETHYL-1-CYCLOHEXEN-1-YL)- (ALL-E)- 2,4,6,8-NONATETRAENAL

● RETINAL

● RETINALDEHYDE

● TRANS-RETINAL

● VITAMIN A ALDEHYDE

Unacceptable

Unacceptable: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

MODERATE

Cancer
LOW

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
MODERATE

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
MODERATE

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

serums & essences	7 products
facial moisturizer/treatment	4 products
anti-aging	1 products
mask	1 products
moisturizer	1 products

Biochemical or cellular level changes

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Produces excess reactive oxygen species that can interfere with cellular signaling, cause mutations, lead to cell death and may be implicated in cardiovascular disease.	Open scientific literature

Enhanced skin absorption

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Absorbs into the skin	Open scientific literature

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Restricted in cosmetics (recommendations or requirements) - use, concentration, or manufacturing restrictions - Use is restricted in Canadian cosmetics	Canada - Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetics Ingredients

Developmental/reproductive toxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Limited evidence of reproductive toxicity	Open scientific literature

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Classified as expected to be toxic or harmful	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Limited evidence of skin toxicity	Open scientific literature

Cancer

CONCERN	REFERENCE
One or more animal studies show tumor formation at very low doses	Open scientific literature
Cancer - limited evidence	Open scientific literature
One or more in vitro tests on mammalian cells show positive mutation results	Open scientific literature
One or more in vitro tests non-mammalian cells show positive mutation results	Open scientific literature

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Suspected to be an environmental toxin and be persistent or bioaccumulative	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Data gaps

CONCERN	REFERENCE
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
161053 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical	NLM PubMed

Informational

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Industry or government recommendations for safe use: restrictions on concentration, impurities, product types, or manufacturing methods - any	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Persistence and bioaccumulation

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

Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
Health Canada. 2007. List of Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetic Ingredients. Canada's Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist. March 2007.
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). 2006. CIR Compendium, containing abstracts, discussions, and conclusions of CIR cosmetic ingredient safety assessments. Washington DC.
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