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Initiatives Supporting Safe Use of Products
Kao Receives JCIA’s “JIPS Award” for the Ninth Consecutive Year
In March 2025, Kao received the JIPS*1 Award (award for excellence) from the Japan Chemical Industry Association.
The JIPS Award is given to companies that earn public trust by voluntarily disclosing proper usage of chemical products they manufacture and market in the “GPS*2 Safety Summary”, ensuring they have no adverse effect on human health and the environment. This Award was established in 2016, and Kao is the only company in Japan that has received it for nine consecutive years, since its inception.
As of January 2025, Kao has disclosed 233 GPS Safety summaries, the highest number in Japan, out of the cumulative total of 741 disclosed by Japanese companies.
Award ceremony
Safety science research laboratory staff
Kao’s household products (such as detergents, bath additives, and cosmetics) and industrial and chemical products (such as asphalt additives) contain various chemical substances. In order to fulfill our social responsibility as a company that handles chemicals, Kao has been working to assess the risk of chemicals, strengthen on-site management, and disclose information on such activities since 2012.
In 2024, Kao assessed the safety of fatty acid isopropyl, an ester oil used as a base ingredient in its products. This evaluation was conducted based on the legal regulations in each country and Kao’s own standards. The results, confirming that the ingredient pose no risk to either human health or the environment from a scientific perspective, have been published as a GPS Safety Summary. Thanks to its emollient effect*3 , fatty acid isopropyl serves as a base ingredient in a wide range of products, including creams and body milks, as well as other cosmetics and quasi-drugs. It also has industrial applications as an additive in fiber oils and paints. Based on the latest information, Kao also revised 24 previously published GPS Safety Summaries, covering chemical products, such as KALCOL, FARMIN, and EMAL.
Chemical substances make our lives sustainable when used appropriately with a correct understanding. Kao will continue its initiatives with the aim of contributing to the realization of a society in which consumers can use products with peace of mind.
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* 1 JIPS: Japan Initiative of Product Stewardship. An initiative designed to promote the International Council of Chemical Associations’ (ICCA) GPS in Japan.
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* 2 GPS: Global Product Strategy. This is part of a commitment established by the ICCA to a strategic approach for international chemicals management.
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* 3 Emollient effect: The action of suppressing skin moisture evaporation to maintain hydrated and soften skin.
Example of GPS Safety Summary
Example of products that contain fatty acid isopropyl