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Chapter 9: Solvents and hydrocarbons · Part 2: Glycols and helpers

Glycerin

  • Contaminant risk
Also called
glycerol, glycerine, E422
Found in
laundry liquid, cleaners, soap, cosmetics, food

The worst fact: in Haiti in 1995–96, glycerin contaminated with 24% diethylene glycol (DEG) went into a children's paracetamol syrup. Of 87 patients followed up in Haiti, 85 died. In Panama in 2006, glycerin with 22% DEG was used in cough syrup: 27 of 46 patients treated at one Panama City hospital died.

Why brands use it: it holds water, keeps liquids smooth and stable, and is gentle on skin.

Take care if: nothing beyond normal label directions.

Comes from: fats and oils, as a by-product of making soap, fatty acids and biodiesel. Some glycerin is made synthetically from propene via epichlorohydrin, which Australia classes as "May cause genetic defects; May cause cancer; Suspected of damaging fertility". That doesn't mean it's in the product, but it's not a great starting point for something you clean with.

Myth check: "Glycerin was the poison": no. Glycerin itself is low-hazard; the deaths came from a toxic chemical sold as, or mixed into, glycerin, where buyers relied on the supplier's paperwork instead of testing.

Contaminants: diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol. The US limit for medicine-grade glycerin is 0.10%. They're unlikely in a well-made product, but it's a factor you can't see on the label.

Fair to say: glycerin is one of the safest ingredients in this book. It's an approved food additive (422), and the US EPA lists it as "verified to be of low concern".

We use this ingredient. It's in our Castile Hand Wash. It forms naturally when oil is turned into soap, and we leave it in.

Correct as of November 2026. What the badges mean

Sources

  • Safe Work Australia. Hazardous Chemical Information System (HCIS): classifications for each chemical, and for ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, epichlorohydrin, benzene, 1,3-butadiene-containing butane and 1,2-dichloroethane. Workplace exposure standards (amended November 2025) and workplace exposure limits (July 2025). Labelling of workplace hazardous chemicals code of practice (2015). Trichloroethylene health monitoring guide.
  • Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Food Standards Code, Schedule 8 (2025).
  • US EPA. Trichloroethylene; regulation under TSCA, 89 FR 102568 (2024), and later notices (2025–2026); Perchloroethylene; regulation under TSCA, 89 FR 103560 (2024), and 91 FR 47145 (2026); 40 CFR 751.305 and 751.605; Carbon tetrachloride rule (2024); IRIS: ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (2010); Safer Choice Ingredient List.
  • US FDA. Testing of glycerin, propylene glycol and other high-risk drug components for DEG and EG (2023); 21 CFR 184.1666; 21 CFR 589.1001.
  • HSDB (US National Library of Medicine), via PubChem: manufacturing, use and impurity data.
  • O'Brien KL et al. Epidemic of pediatric deaths from acute renal failure caused by diethylene glycol poisoning (Haiti). JAMA 1998;279:1175-1180.
  • Rentz ED et al. Outbreak of acute renal failure in Panama in 2006. Bull World Health Organ 2008;86:749-756.
  • Sosa NR et al. Clinical, laboratory, diagnostic and histopathologic features of diethylene glycol poisoning, Panama. Ann Emerg Med 2014.

The full source list is at the end of Chapter 9.