SC Johnson - A Family Company

A skin allergen (also known as a dermal or contact allergen) is any substance that the immune system recognizes as a threat and attacks. But it’s important to keep in mind that the presence of a skin allergen in a product doesn’t mean it will automatically cause a person to develop an allergic sensitivity.

Skin allergies can be created or induced when a person is exposed to an allergen over time and above a certain minimum dose. This is called “induction.” After a person develops a skin allergy to a given substance, they may have a reaction like redness or a rash. This is called “elicitation.” Whether or not a reaction develops has a lot to do with the dose or the amount of exposure. At SC Johnson, we take care to use ingredients with skin allergens only in amounts so low that it would be highly unlikely to create a new skin allergy or trigger a skin allergy reaction. Still, individuals with a pre-existing skin allergy may benefit from knowing where a particular ingredient is used.

We continue looking for ways to increase the transparency of our products. Since we launched this website in 2009, we’ve progressively added details about dyes (2009), preservatives (2011) and fragrances (2012). We launched product-specific fragrance details up to 99.9% of most products in 2015 and our first air freshener collection with 100% fragrance transparency in 2016.

We want to give families even more information about the products they bring into their homes, so our disclosure of skin allergens goes beyond regulations in the European Union and also in the United States, where there are no rules requiring allergen transparency.

To determine what to include as a skin allergen in our disclosure, we designed a robust evaluation process with a scientific advisory group that includes experts in dermatology, immuno-toxicology, fragrance toxicology and allergens.

The expert panel that validated the study methods includes:

• David Basketter, D.Sc., independent consultant and recognized international expert on allergy; former Director of Safety Research, Unilever
• David Bickers, M.D., Chairman, Department of Dermatology, Columbia University
• Peter Cadby, Ph.D., former Head of Product Safety at Firmenich
• Axel Schnuch, M.D., University of Göttingen; retired Head of IVDK (Information Network of Departments of Dermatology)
• Peter Thorne, Ph.D., Head of Department of Occupational & Environmental Health, University of Iowa; Director of Environmental Health Sciences Research Center

We analyzed about 3,000 data sets from public and industry sources for potential skin allergens identified on country regulatory lists, fragrance industry lists, the European Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety inputs, dermatology clinic data and individual supplier safety data sheets.

For more information on SC Johnson’s skin allergen transparency, view our press release.