Differentiation from Tars
Since 1996, the production of cosmetic shampoos containing coal tar is prohibited in EC because of the toxicity of tars. ICHTHYOL® PALE is recommended as alternative for coal tar.
There are still some reports in the scientific literature in which sulfonated shale oils, such as ICHTHYOL® PALE, are falsely grouped with tars because of their related efficacy and characteristic odour. ICHTHYOL® PALE and tars differ in terms of.
| ICHTHYOL® PALE | COAL TAR |
| Starting material: | Starting material: |
| oil shale from marine phytoplankton | Coal from terrestrial plants |
| Dry distillation: about 450°C | Dry distillation: about 1000°C |
| Intermediary product: Crude Shale Oil | |
| Active ingredient: sulfonated shale oil | Active ingredient: coal tar |
| - salts in aqueous solution | - mixture of hydrocarbons |
| - surfactant properties | and phenols |
| - water-soluble | - lipophilic; not water soluble |
| - sulphur-rich | - sulphur-poor |
| High purity with regard to PAH | Severely contaminated with PAH |
| (< 0.001 ppm benzo[a]pyrene) | (> 5000 ppm benzo[a]pyrene) |
| not mutagenic, not carcinogenic | indications of mutagenicity, cancerogenicity |