What Does EWG Do?

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has developed a comprehensive database that combines data from nearly 60 sources, including government agencies, industry panels, academic institutions, and other credible organizations. Launched in 2004, EWG’s Skin Deep database helps educate consumers about potential health risks in cosmetics and personal care products, such as endocrine disruption and cancer. It compares ingredient information with data from nearly 60 toxicity and regulatory sources. This database includes over 1,535 unique chemical classifications and is used to evaluate potential health risks and gaps in data for cosmetic ingredients.

What is EWG score?

The EWG score rates the safety of cosmetic and personal care products based on the potential risks of their ingredients. It ranges from 1 to 10, with lower numbers indicating safer products and higher numbers suggesting higher risks.

The percentage of a toxic ingredient is a crucial factor when determining a product’s safety. A small amount of a potentially harmful ingredient might not pose a significant risk. In fact, many cosmetic companies conduct safety testing on their products to ensure they’re safe for consumer use. This testing will often provide specific usage recommendations, such as how many times the product can be applied daily or weekly, which also helps guide safe usage.

Before becoming a cosmetic chemist, I used to refer to this as a consumer to avoid cosmetic toxic ingredients. If you want to explore the risks of each ingredient in detail, it can be useful to consult it. However, if you’re relying on the product score, I find it questionable, and here’s why.

EWG Product Score Calculation

The EWG website kindly explains how the product score is calculated.

For more details, visit https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/learn_more/about/

---

Here’s a example of product scoring using the EWG’s system:

Let’s assume the product contains the following ingredients:

• Ingredient A
• Ingredient B
• Ingredient C

Each ingredient has a score for each hazard category. Let’s focus on the cancer hazard category, but the same method applies to other categories like neurotoxicity or irritation.

• Ingredient A: Score = 0 (safe in terms of cancer risk)
• Ingredient B: Score = 100 (known human carcinogen)
• Ingredient C: Score = 40 (limited evidence of carcinogenicity)

For Cancer:

Cancer score=100+20=120

Next, the absorption score might adjust the number above, depending on the ingredients’ ability to penetrate the skin, and finally, the raw score is scaled to a score between 1 (lest hazardous) and 10 (most hazardous).

• The cancer hazard score for the product was calculated to be 120.
• The product score is weighted by absorption and scaled from 1 to 10, resulting in a final hazard score, let’s say 9, indicating a higher potential risk for cancer.

---

The Blind Spots of the EWG Scoring System

When considering the safety of a cosmetic product, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) rating can provide helpful insight, as it consolidates information from over 60 databases related to chemical hazards, regulatory status, and research studies. So, it can give you a broad understanding of the potential risks associated with a product’s ingredients.

However, it’s important to be cautious about how much weight you place on the EWG score alone when determining whether a product is safe or not. The EWG’s Skin Deep scoring system evaluates ingredients based on their potential hazards but does not account for how much of each ingredient is actually used in the formula. This means that a product containing a potentially toxic ingredient may still receive the same score, regardless of whether that ingredient is present in a small or large quantity. For example, whether the toxic ingredient is included at 50% or 0.01% in the product, the EWG score might not reflect how much of that ingredient is actually in the product. The method focuses on the hazard potential of each ingredient and does not directly incorporate how much of each ingredient is used in the formula. However, highly hazardous ingredients—even in small amounts—can still influence the product’s final score significantly.

So, while the EWG score can indicate the potential presence of hazardous ingredients, it doesn’t tell the full story. Always check the ingredient list carefully. Pay attention to where an ingredient appears in the list and consider whether it’s likely used in a large or small amount. If an ingredient is listed near the end, its impact may be minimal.

Check the article to find the 1% mark in the ingredient list.

In conclusion, while the EWG score is useful for spotting potentially concerning ingredients, always look deeper into the ingredient list and consider the amount of each ingredient, the product’s use directions, and its application area. This will help you make a more informed decision about whether a product is safe for your needs.

REFERENCE:

Environmental Working Group. (2025). Skin Deep® Cosmetic Database. Retrieved from www.ewg.org/skindeep