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DMDM Hydantoin vs. Germall Plus
Hi All,
I have a question on DMDM Hydantoin and Germall Plus. I know
that both are formaldehyde releasers. I understand that the amount of
formaldehyde required to kill microorganisms is very far from away from what
is necessary to cause cancer concerns.However what I noticed in the SDS for DMDM Hydantoin is this
warning:“WARNING: This product contains chemicals (formaldehyde)
known to the State of California to cause cancer”.I checked SDS for Germall and it states:
“This product does not contain any chemicals known to State
of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or any other reproductive harm”.I wonder what the deal here is. Can somebody explain it to
me please?Thanks in advance.
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4 Replies
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This is something I have questions about as well (Prop 65 has a whole section about ways to interpret their rules) but here is my current understanding:
-none of the components of these preservatives are listed on Prop 65, but the issue with prop 65 is it doesn’t seem clear at what level you have to evaluate your products. For both these products formaldehyde would never appear on the label, but maybe the regulatory team has decided to play it safe and put a warning for the product knowing it releases a prop65 listed ingredient. I’ve always wondered how to handle things like Polyacrylamide (not on prop 65) that contain residual acrylamides (are on prop 65)
-there are ‘safe harbor levels‘ that give allowable concentrations (again not clear to me if this means you can skip the statement) but the concentrations they set are per day! Not really useful for a cosmetic unless you can either give a ‘recommended dose’ or prove an entire unit falls within the safe harbor level
I think it comes down to legal nonsense and how in-depth a company wants to go.
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Thank you @EVchem. I use germall plus and was curious about DMDM as it sounds as a great preservative that is compatible with all ingredients but those cancer warnings make even such a ‘synthetics lover’ as myself to look into it.
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The warning might have to do with the level of free formaldehyde in the DMDMH.
Edit: Glydant 2000 has a very low level of free formaldehyde.
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I don’t know what the problem is. I think it may be a misunderstanding by the Makingcosmetics website. There is a “hydantoin” ingredient on the list but it is Diphenylhydantoin which is not the same as DMDM Hydantoin. Here is the current list of Prop 65 ingredients and DMDM Hydantoin is not on it.
https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/proposition-65//p65list091319.pdf
DMDM Hydantoin does not produce any more free formaldehyde than Diazolidinyl Urea so that’s not likely a suitable explanation either.
It would be interesting to see why they list the warning on one rather than the other.
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