How to Research Ingredients - Tips and Tricks to find out "what the heck is that?"

I want to share the two quick methods I use to research ingredients and I will provide an example.  I am suspicious of  long ingredient lists that make claims of "natural" and "cruelty free".  I want to do some research before I believe that.  An example is shown below.  I won't share what product this is from. This is a randomly chosen ingredient from an ad campaign that I found particularly annoying. We know what Glycerin is.  We know what stearyl alcohol is.  What the heck is Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine?  Let's find out together.

Google Search #1

Step 1:  Copy the name
Step 2: Open google
Step 3: Paste the name,  then type "SDS" after it.  SDS stands for Safety Data Sheet.  It used to be called MSDS.

You will find an enormous amount of information.  I randomly chose one to open. 

There are 16 sections in an SDS.  I like to look at:

SECTION 2 – HAZARDOUS IDENTIFICATION

SECTION 11 - TOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION  

SECTION 12 - ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION

In the SDS I opened there was no information for sections 2 or 12.  However section 11 listed "dermal" and "occular" irritancy.  This is a hint that this is probably tested on animals.  Now I opened a few more SDS sheets to see if they list more information.  Then we will do a second google search. 

In the third SDS that I opened I finally found some section 2 information.  This is harmful to aquatic life. Lesson to learn is to open multiple sources. Don't assume that all required information is provided in any document. 

Google Search #2

Copy the name again.  (who wants to type all that out)
Open google.  Paste the name then type the words  "safety assessment" after it.

Here is one of the search results.  I love these reports.  I am a chemical engineer so I love chemistry and the descriptions of how they manufacture these ingredients.
https://www.cir-safety.org/sites/default/files/amidoa032014tent.pdf


Don't read on if you get upset over animal cruelty.  There is lots. Rats and Rabbits were used in weeks of testing. 


Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine The effects of stearamidopropyl dimethylamine (100% active ingredient) on reproduction and development were studied in 10 Wistar rats/sex/dose by oral gavage in accordance to OECD guideline 421. 2 Dose levels tested were 0, 20, 70 and 200 mg/kg body weight/day at a dose volume of 5 ml/kg body weight. Parental males were exposed to the test material 2 weeks prior to mating, during mating, and up to study termination. Parental females were exposed 2 weeks prior to mating, during mating, during gestation, and during at least 4 days of lactation. In the 200 mg/kg males, a weight loss of up to 15% of day 1 weight was observed during the first 2 weeks of treatment, but this effect seemed to recover during the treatment period. The mean body weight and body weight gain of the 200 mg/kg males remained statistically significantly lower throughout treatment. Females of the same dose group had statistically significant reduced body weight gain during the first 2 weeks of treatment, as well as during gestation. Food intake was reduced during the entire premating period for males, and during the first week of the premating period for the females. Additionally, the feed consumption of the females remained slightly lower throughout pregnancy and lactation. No other treatment-related changes were observed in the parental animals. The non-statistically significant decrease in the mean number of corpora lutea was observed in the 70 and 200 mg/kg dose groups when compared with the control animal; however, a statistically significant lower number of implantation sites were noted in the 200 mg/kg dose group females. A statistically significant lower number of living pups was noted in the 70 and 200 mg/kg dose groups. No other treatment-related changes were noted in any of the remaining reproductive parameters investigated in this study (i.e. mating, fertility and conception indices and precoital time, testes and epididymides weights, spermatogenic staging profiles). Based on the results of this study on stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, the researchers determined the paternal NOAEL to be 70 mg/kg body weight/day, the maternal NOAEL to be 70 mg/kg body weight/day, and the developmental NOAEL to be 200 mg/kg body weight/day. 2 In the dermal 90-day repeated dose toxicity study in rabbits described above, no treatment-related findings concerning the reproductive organs were observed. 2 The dermal developmental toxicity potential of stearamidopropyl dimethylamine was studied in 80 artificially inseminated New Zealand White rabbits. 2 Groups of 20 rabbits received the test material at 0, 5, 100, or 200 mg/kg body weight/day at a dose volume of 2 ml/kg body weight during days 7 through 18 of gestation. The test material was applied to the clipped backs of the rabbits as a solution in 30% isopropanol and 70% reverse osmosis membrane processed deionized water. The test sites were not occluded and were rinsed with water 2 h after each application. The rabbits were collared to prevent oral ingestion of the test material.The rabbits were observed daily during and after the dosage periods for clinical signs of toxicity, skin irritation, mortality, abortion, delivery, body weight, and feed consumption. All rabbits were killed on day 29 and complete gross necropsy was performed. Reproductive organs that were examined included the prostate, seminal vesicles, testis, epididymis in males and the ovaries, uterus, and vagina in females. The uteri were examined for pregnancy, number of implantations, live and dead fetuses and early and late resorptions. Corpora lutea were counted. Each fetus was weighed and subsequently....

Now all we did was do basic research on ONE ingredient.  If we continue will we find more? Do you think companies should state they are cruelty free if they use ingredients that test on animals?  They may not test their product but there was testing completed on animals in the supply chain.

Would you call something that required all this testing, hours of panel discussion, and is toxic to aquatic life "natural"?  I know many natural things are toxic to aquatic life, however I believe calling a manufactured compound "natural" is very misleading.