EWG Skin Deep® | What is ALCOHOL DENATURED (2024)

Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.

Data: Fair

Alcohol Denatured

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

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Other Concerns

Enhanced skin absorption, Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (moderate), and Multiple, additive exposure sources (low)

SYNONYMS

● ALCOHOL DENAT.

● ALCOHOL DENATURED

● ALCOHOL, COMPLETELY DENATURED

● DENATURED ALCOHOL, DESIGNATED BY THE GOVERNMENT

● DENATURED ALCOHOL, NOT DESIGNATED BY THE GOVERNMENT

● DESIGNATED BY THE GOVERNMENT DENATURED ALCOHOL

● NOT DESIGNATED BY THE GOVERNMENT DENATURED ALCOHOL

● SD ALCOHOL 1

This ingredient is not currently on EWG's Skin Deep Restricted or Unacceptable Lists.

Denatured alcohol is a mixture of ethanol (ethyl alcohol) with a denaturing agent. Ethanol is considered broadly toxic and linked to birth defects following excessive oral ingestion. Potential risks from ethanol in personal care products are significantly smaller than the health risks posed by the consumption of 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

fragrance for women	332 products
body spray	237 products
hair spray	233 products
shampoo	214 products
foundation	187 products
nail polish	163 products
recreational sunscreen	158 products
fragrance for men	150 products
mascara	119 products
hair styling aide	113 products
antiperspirant/deodorant	94 products
facial moisturizer/treatment	91 products
hair treatment/serum	88 products
mask	87 products
concealer	78 products
serums & essences	73 products
moisturizer	64 products
eye shadow	56 products
antiperspirant/deodorant (men's)	50 products
brow liner	49 products
eye liner	48 products
toners/astringents	43 products
setting powder/spray	43 products
conditioner	39 products
hand sanitizer	32 products
daily use with SPF	31 products
styling gel/lotion	30 products
facial cleanser	25 products
lipstick	25 products
makeup primer	24 products
sunless tanning	23 products
after shave	22 products
eyelash glue	22 products
nail treatment	21 products
BB cream	21 products
body wash/cleanser	20 products
after sun product	16 products
baby sunscreen	16 products
hair color and bleaching	15 products
around-eye cream	15 products
exfoliant/scrub	14 products
bronzer/highlighter	14 products
anti-aging	13 products
mouthwash	12 products
body firming lotion	12 products
blush	9 products
body cleansing wipes	9 products
tanning oil	8 products
pore strips	8 products
styling mousse/foam	7 products
liquid hand soap	6 products
hand cream	5 products
makeup remover	5 products
body oil	5 products
foot cleansing	5 products
muscle/joint soreness	5 products
detangler	4 products
polish remover	4 products
	4 products
baby oil	4 products
lip gloss	3 products
damaged skin treatment	3 products
bar soap	3 products
beard care	3 products
body powder	3 products
foot odor control	2 products
foot moisturizer	2 products
bath oil/salts/soak	2 products
lip balm	2 products
glitter	2 products
hair-loss treatment	1 products
shaving cream (men's)	1 products
shaving cream	1 products
baby wipes	1 products
depilatory	1 products
facial powder	1 products
CC cream	1 products
baby shampoo	1 products
makeup removing wipes	1 products
nail glue	1 products
hair perm	1 products

Enhanced skin absorption

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Penetration enhancer	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 sense organ toxicity	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information

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

Data gaps

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Insufficient data to determine safety	Cosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
Risk assessment method deficiencies and data gaps - any	Open scientific literature
78649 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemical	NLM PubMed

Miscellaneous

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Occupational hazards related to handling	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Not suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Persistence and bioaccumulation

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

Informational

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Industry or government recommendations for safe use: restrictions on concentration, impurities, product types, or manufacturing methods - any	Open scientific literature

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.
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.
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.
CPS&Q (Consumer Products Safety & Quality) formely known as ECB (European Chemicals Bureau). 2008. Classification and Labelling: Chemicals: Annex VI of Directive 67/548/EEC through the 31st ATP.

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.

WEIGHT-OF-EVIDENCE APPROACH

A product’s hazard score is not an average of the ingredients’ hazard scores. It is calculated using a weight-of-evidence approach that factors in all of the hazards or health impacts associated with the ingredients.

Data availability

The Skin Deep data availability rating reflects the number of scientific studies about the product or ingredient in the published scientific literature.

NONELIMITEDFAIRGOODROBUST

Low Availability

Moderate Availability

High Availability

NONE

Ingredients have not been assessed.

LIMITED-FAIR

There is only a modest volume of research.

GOOD-ROBUST

Ingredients have been studied extensively.

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News & updates

RESEARCH

Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited