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Menthol

Synonyms: dl-menthol, l-menthol

CAS Numbers: 1490-04-6, 89-78-1, 15356-70-4

SERIOUS
health hazard

MODERATE
health hazard

FEW OR NO
health hazards

0 79
80 89
90 100
84

Sources of exposure:

Personal Care Products
Food
Medications

Tobacco

Description:

Menthol is a terpene alcohol used as a fragrance and flavoring agent with a characteristic cooling sensation. It is used in personal care products, food, and OTC medications. Menthol can be naturally derived from mint oils or synthetically produced.

Health concerns:

Immunotoxicity & Allergens

May impact immune system function or cause allergic reactions.

Irritant

May cause skin, eye, or respiratory irritation.

Banned/restricted lists:

  • European Commission Annex III restrictions.

References

  1. US Environmental Protection Agency. Cheminformatics Modules, Computational Toxicology and Exposure Informatics (CompTox).
  2. California Department of Public Health. California Safe Cosmetics Reportable Ingredients List.
  3. US National Library of Medicine. PubChem database.

HOW MILLION MARKER SCORES CHEMICALS

Million Marker's Ingredient Hazard Scoring uses multiple chemical databases and a science-backed scoring system to compute hazard scores for thousands of chemicals found in consumer products and listed on ingredient labels.

We identified key chemicals based on a database compiling dozens of authoritative sources, screening tools, and QSAR models.

Hazard scores within 11 different health categories (carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, reproductive toxicants, developmental toxicants, genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, organ system toxicity, immunotoxicity, respiratory toxicity, skin/eye/respiratory irritants, and ecotoxicity).

They are weighted based on several factors, including strength of evidence for adverse impacts in humans, severity, and potential contamination.

For more information on our scoring methodology visit this page.