EWG does the best they can to give the consumer all known information regarding the safety of individual ingredients. We applaud their work! We are a partner with the group, compliant with their Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Compact and are in full support of their endeavors to educate consumers seeking to find the safest products possible. With that said, there are four factors that may give consumers an inconsistent or a confusing presentation of this safety substantiation data:
The Data Gap: After each ingredient there is a circle with a percentage shown. This is the data gap. This shows that there is X amount of data unknown about said ingredient to substantiate safety. If the data gap is 81%, that means that only 19% of the research actually exists to give the ingredient a safety rating.
The individual ingredient rating shows only the conventional form of the raw ingredient and does not take into consideration the myriad of sources (and quality levels) an ingredient may come from, such as, organic versus conventional. Many times, potential pesticide residue will raise the individual ingredient’s rating (such as our rice bran on EWG). Being that we use mostly organic ingredients, this single conventional rating shows that our organic ingredients may contain pesticide, herbicide or fungicide residue that is not actually present. We have discussed this issue with EWG’s lead scientist and have been assured that EWG is seeking to fix these inconsistencies within their own rating system.
Some essential oils are not meant to be applied “neat”, or without dilution. Some essential oils (EOs) and botanical extracts may receive higher rating due to natural potency. All of the EOs used by Pangea are: (1) considered generally safe; (2) never in a concentration of more than 1% of the entire formula; and (3) extracted using steam distillation or carbon dioxide (CO2) methods exclusively.
In the case of our specially denatured organic lavender alcohol (used as a natural and safe preservative) on the database; there is a data gap of 81% and “limited evidence” of this ingredient being carcinogenic, toxic to organs or toxic to reproductive systems. Much of the research on this ingredient pertains to alcohol’s function as a penetration enhancer and consideration of the denaturing agent used. There is a genuine risk when toxic chemicals in a formulation (such as synthetic parfum/fragrances) are being driven deeper into the blood stream by alcohol. Being that Pangea uses no toxic chemicals or synthetics in any formulations, this is a non-issue. We consider the penetration enhancement function of the alcohol as a benefit to the efficacy of our toxin-free, biocompatible skin care products.