1,4-Dioxane in Personal Care and Cleaning Products

DTSC has identified 1,4-dioxane, a contaminant in certain beauty, personal care, hygiene, and cleaning products, as a Candidate Chemical that may warrant further research.

1,4-Dioxane is a likely human carcinogen that is highly mobile and persistent in water and is not removed by most standard forms of wastewater and drinking water treatment. DTSC is concerned about the potential adverse impacts to Californians from exposure to 1,4-dioxane, especially children and environmental justice communities. Many personal care and cleaning products are washed down the drain during or after use, releasing 1,4-dioxane into wastewater. Removing 1,4-dioxane from wastewater is difficult and expensive, making it hard for California to beneficially reuse wastewater for drinking water.

DTSC will consider both verbal input received at the 2019 public meetings and written comments submitted during the public comment period as we continue to refine our research on 1,4-dioxane.

Providing Input

DTSC’s Safer Consumer Products program and Environmental Chemistry Lab have worked with New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to develop draft Method Performance Criteria (MPC) for 1,4-dioxane. These criteria will be incorporated into any regulations that DTSC pursues related to 1,4-dioxane as a part of larger guidance on the Alternatives Analysis Threshold (AAT).

DEC has released the draft MPC and opened a public comment period to receive feedback to inform their work on 1,4-dioxane. DTSC will also solicit comment on the draft MPC upon release of the complete 1,4-dioxane product-chemical profile later this year. We will coordinate with DEQ to review all comments received at this time and incorporate into the AAT guidance appropriately. DTSC encourages all interested stakeholders to provide comments on this draft. Instructions for submitting comments are available on DEC’s website. Written comments may be submitted until 5:00 p.m. EST on July 23, 2021.

In 2019, DTSC released a background document on 1,4-dioxane in personal care and cleaning products and opened a public comment period. To view the background document and comments, please visit DTSC’s CalSAFER portal. The comment period closed on August 30, 2019.

Two public meetings were held to receive public input.

The first was held on Friday, June 28th, 2019 at the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts’ Joint Administration Office in Whittier, California, and focused on potential adverse impacts from the presence of 1,4-dioxane in consumer products.

• Workshop Meeting Agenda
• Workshop Video
• Workshop Transcript
• Workshop Presentations:
  1. DTSC
  2. Thorsten Reemtsma
  3. Ann Heil
  4. Mark Kawamoto
  5. Jeff O’Keefe
  6. Jane Williams
  7. Steve Risotto

The second was on Wednesday, August 21, 2019 in Sacramento. This day-long meeting included presentations, roundtable discussion, and a Panel discussion focused on options for and impediments to lowering 1,4-dioxane in personal care and cleaning products. It also cover considerations for setting an Alternatives Analysis Threshold.

• Meeting Agenda
• Alternatives Analysis Threshold Discussion Proposal
• Workshop Video
• Workshop Presentations:

  1. DTSC
  2. Kathleen Stanton
  3. Martin Wolf
  4. Thomas Mohr
  5. Abigail Noble