EWG Skin Deep® | What is STYRENE

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED®

Data: Robust

Styrene

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

SEARCH PRODUCTS

FIND PRODUCTS WITH THIS INGREDIENT

Other Concerns

Use restrictions (high), Endocrine disruption (moderate), Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (high), Ecotoxicology (low), Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (high), and Occupational hazards (high)

SYNONYMS

● BENZENE, ETHENYL

● ETHENYLBENZENE

● STYRENE

Unacceptable

Unacceptable: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

MODERATE

Cancer
MODERATE

Allergies & Immunotoxicity
MODERATE

Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
HIGH

Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

CONCERNS
DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

eye liner	2 products
nail polish	1 products
eyelash glue	1 products

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Known human respiratory toxicant	EPA Hazardous Air Pollutants
Limited evidence of gastrointestinal or liver 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
Classified as a low human health priority	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmful	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Classified as irritant	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling
Limited evidence of any irritation	Open scientific literature

Use restrictions

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

Occupational hazards

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Allowed workplace exposures restricted to low doses	CPS&Q - Classification & Labelling
Single case study detailing occupational hazards	National Library of Medicine HazMap
Single case study detailing occupational hazards	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information

Cancer

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Possible human carcinogen	Int'l Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Carcinogens
Possible human carcinogen	Open scientific literature
Possible human carcinogen	California EPA Proposition 65
Limited evidence of carcinogenicity	Int'l Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Carcinogens
Cancer - limited evidence	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information
Cancer - limited evidence	Silent Spring's Mammary Carcinogens Reviews Database

Endocrine disruption

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Human endocrine disruptor - strong evidence	European Commission on Endocrine Disruption
Limited evidence of endocrine disruption	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information
endocrine - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed/unreview: published lit review or major tox study	Illinois EPA Chemicals Associated with Endocrine System

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

Developmental/reproductive toxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Possible human reproductive or developmental toxin	Open scientific literature
Limited evidence of developmental toxicity	Scorecard.org Toxicity Information

Ecotoxicology

CONCERN	REFERENCE
Wildlife and environmental toxicity	Illinois EPA Chemicals Associated with Endocrine System
Not suspected to be an environmental toxin	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

Miscellaneous

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

Multiple, additive exposure sources

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

Neurotoxicity

CONCERN	REFERENCE
any - weight of evidence unknown/unassessed/unreview: published lit review or major tox study	Open scientific literature

Data gaps

CONCERN	REFERENCE
8082 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 bioaccumulative	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List
Not suspected to be persistent	Environment Canada Domestic Substance List

EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). 2005. Office of Air. The 112(b)1 Hazardous Air Pollutants List (as modified). Last modified: 12 Dec 2005.
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.
EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
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.
Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
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/ .
NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2006. HazMap — Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Agents.
IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer). 2008. Overall Evaluations of Carcinogenicity to Humans, as evaluated in IARC Monographs Volumes 1-99 (a total of 935 agents, mixtures and exposures).
California EPA (California Environmental Protection Agency). 9/2008. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. Chemicals known to the State to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.
Rudel RA, KR Attfield, JN Schifano and JG Brody. Chemicals Causing Mammary Gland Tumors in Animals Signal New Directions for Epidemiology, Chemicals Testing, and Risk Assessment for Breast Cancer Prevention. CANCER Supplement. 2007 Jun 15;109(12):2635-2666.
EU (European Union)- Strategy for Endocrine Disrupters 2007. Commision on endocrin disruption requested by the European Parliament in 1998.
Illinois EPA (Illinois Environmental Protection Agency). 2000. Preliminary list of chemicals associated with endocrine system effects in animals and humans (*) or in vitro (+). In EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) 2000. Handbook for Non-Cancer Health Effects Valuation, Appendix C.
AOEC (Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics). 2009. AEOC exposures codes and asthmagen designation.
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.
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.
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