EWG Skin Deep® | What is STEARETH-21

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED®

Data: Limited

Steareth 21

Products with the EWG VERIFIED mark have met the program’s impurity and use restrictions based on EWG's review of the company's data.

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Use restrictions (low), Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (low), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (low), and Contamination concerns (high)

SYNONYMS

● PEG-21 STEARYL ETHER

● POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL (21) STEARYL ETHER

● POLYOXYETHYLENE (21) STEARYL ETHER

● STEARETH-21

Restricted

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

Steareth-21 is a surfactant composed of polyethylene glycol polymer and stearyl alcohol.

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

hair color and bleaching	49 products
moisturizer	42 products
brow liner	38 products
facial moisturizer/treatment	29 products
daily use with SPF	27 products
mascara	26 products
hair styling aide	19 products
mask	16 products
around-eye cream	10 products
exfoliant/scrub	9 products
facial cleanser	8 products
hand cream	8 products
styling gel/lotion	6 products
styling mousse/foam	6 products
eye liner	6 products
serums & essences	5 products
conditioner	4 products
antiperspirant/deodorant	4 products
after shave	3 products
recreational sunscreen	3 products
BB cream	3 products
hair treatment/serum	2 products
damaged skin treatment	2 products
bronzer/highlighter	2 products
foot moisturizer	2 products
foundation	2 products
anti-aging	2 products
lip balm	1 products
	1 products
makeup primer	1 products
shaving cream	1 products
body wash/cleanser	1 products
foot odor control	1 products
eyelash glue	1 products
sunless tanning	1 products
skin fading/lightener	1 products
shampoo	1 products
antiperspirant/deodorant (men's)	1 products

Contamination concerns

Chemical
ETHYLENE OXIDE
1,4-DIOXANE

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Limited evidence of sense organ toxicity	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information
Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmful	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)

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

Use restrictions

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Determined safe for use in cosmetics, subject to concentration or use limitations - Safe for use in cosmetics with some qualifications	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Ecotoxicology

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

Multiple, additive exposure sources

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in food	FDA Food Additive Status

Data gaps

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

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

ED (Environmental Defense). 2006. Scorecard _ The Pollution Information Site. http://www.scorecard.org.
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). 2006. CIR Compendium, containing abstracts, discussions, and conclusions of CIR cosmetic ingredient safety assessments. Washington DC.
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.
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