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Phenoxyethanol in Cleaning Products?
Hi all, I have started to notice that some bigger natural cleaning product brands using phenoxyethanol as a preservative. It has always been my understanding that cleaning products are EPA regulated, so cosmetic grade preservatives are a no-go. Looking through the EPA FIFRA database there are no approved blends with the CAS number.
What is also interesting is that some of these brands are claiming phenoxyethanol as a “solvent”, rather than a preservative. Does anyone know if this is a viable preservative if you state it is in the formula for another purpose?
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3 Replies
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Not aware it has a EPA pesticide registration but can be a viable preservative functionally. Consider your support for “solvent” if EPA challenges.
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For the record, the only meaningful regulation that EPA exerts over cleaning products is when they apply to FIFRA or SaferChoice (DfE) compounding. Otherwise you can put all the phenoxyethanol you want in there. I assume you are formulating disinfectant then? That being the case I’ll echo Dr. Phil and state it as a solvent, which it in fact is.
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Totally out of topic but I learned that phenoxyethanol is used for long-term preservation of embalmed cadavers (used for demonstrations to medical students). A versatile ingredient, must I say!
My life will never be the same ????
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