On the occasion of its plenary meeting on the 24th and 25th of October, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) approved the mandate for a scientific Opinion on Ethylzingerone with INCI name ‘Hydroxyethoxyphenyl Butanone’ (HEPB) and the possibility of this substance to cause eye irritation. This Opinion on HEPB was requested by the European Commission.
After a first submission of a dossier from the industry to support the safe use of Hydroxyethoxyphenyl Butanone as a cosmetic preservative in rinse off, oral care and leave-on cosmetic products, which was adopted by the SCCS in its Opinion SCCS/1582/16, concerns were raised, and more evidence was requested “to exclude eye irritation”.
As a result of the examination of the second dossier submitted to the SCCS, an Opinion was adopted on this question on the 21st of December 2018 (SCCS/1604/18) and after a thorough analysis of the data provided, the conclusion is that “Based on the new information provided by the Applicant, the SCCS considers the use of Hydroxyethoxyphenyl Butanone (HEPB) as a cosmetic preservative in rinse-off, oral care and leave-on cosmetic products with a maximum concentration of 0.7% safe with regard to eye irritation.”
This preliminary Opinion is still open for clarifications and comments until the 5th of March 2019.
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Manon Prado