EWG expands cosmetic science and certification programs

Related tags Environmental working group certification

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is deepening its involvement in the US beauty industry with an expanded certification program, while also increasing collaborations between its scientists and leading cosmetic companies.

The EWG Verified: For Your Health certification program targets both individual ingredients and ingredient composition, while it is also launching a full personal care industry program involving its scientists collaborating with cosmetic brands and independent formulators with the aim of enhancing formulation safety.

The EWG scientists will be working towards improving scores in the EWG’s Skin Deep cosmetics databases, which evaluates formulations according to their safety rating, with the cleanest formulations earning the EWG Verified mark.

Building on Skin Deep

Skin Deep is a web- and app-based consumer guide that is claimed to draw more than 8 million people a year, who cross reference the databases to find out the organization’s health ratings of 26,000 products and more than 9,000 ingredients.

Equally, the expansion of the certification program also deepens the scope for the EWG Verified seal, which is currently found on more than 1,800 products sold by almost 300 companies, sold by major retailers such as Walmart, Target, CVS, Kroger and Walgreens.

EWG says that by expanding the programs it is aiming to build on its mission to educate consumers on the health and safety of beauty and personal care products, while also making their purchase decisions more informed.

Improving the market for clean beauty products

EWG president Ken Cook claims that the EWG Verified seal has become the premier mark for clean beauty products in recent years, a movement that is being driven by the rise of the conscious consumer, who are looking for safe products, free of toxic ingredients, while also being good for the environment.

“The goal of EWG Verified Ingredients is to improve the market for clean personal care earlier in the product formulation process and deeper in the global cosmetics supply chain,” Cook said.

“Products will still have to meet the EWG Verified standard to carry our mark, which applies to all of a product’s ingredients. But our Verified mark will make clean ingredients easier to source and help drive innovation in key problem areas, like the need for safer options in cosmetics preservatives.”

EWG Reviewed Science

The organization will also be opening up its science collaboration program to all companies and individuals working in the cosmetics science and formulation area, rolling out a program that has been B-tested during the course of the last three years.

The EWG Reviewed for Science program allows private sector scientists and formulators to improve their Skin Deep product scores and create products that can earn the EWG Verified mark.

To meet the expected increase in demand for the organization’s science program, it has confirmed two new appointments: EWG scientist Carla Burns, who has worked for many years as part of the EWG Verified team, will become senior director of Cosmetic Sciences. The other appointment is Kali Rauhe who will be director of Cosmetic Science and will build on her experience with the program to lead EWG Reviewed for Cosmetics.