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Is cancer-causing Cocamide DEA lurking in the ingredients list of your shampoo or body soap?

If you buy your shampoo, body soap, or other hygiene products through Amazon, Target, or Walmart, you should check the ingredients list to make sure you’re not using a product containing a carcinogen on your hair and body.

Cocamide DEA is made by reacting coconut oil with a chemical called ethanolamine — which transforms Cocamide DEA from something you could eat to something that could give you cancer.

It’s often used as a foaming agent that is added to shampoos and soaps as an unnecessary thickener. After laboratory tests found that Cocamide DEA causes liver and kidney cancers, California added it to its list of carcinogenic chemicals that require a warning under Proposition 65 in 2012.

Cocamide DEA has no place in products we use on our hair and skin. We’re proud to have gotten it off the market over a decade ago by taking legal action that forced over 120 companies to eliminate Cocamide DEA from their shampoos, soaps, and other hygiene products.

But our Consumer Protection Team’s recent investigation has found that this cancer-causing chemical seems to be creeping back onto the market. We found three shampoos containing Cocamide DEA sold at dollar stores in 2023.  

While we’re pleased that our lawsuits were successful, the reappearance of Cocamide DEA prompted us to rereview the market. When we did, we were disappointed to find 28 hygiene products sold on Amazon, one product from Target, and 11 hygiene products sold at Walmart that contain the carcinogenic chemical.

Tell Amazon to stop selling shampoo containing the carcinogen Cocamide DEA!

Together, we can get Cocamide DEA off the market, for good.