1Source is a preventive healthcare platform promoting conscience ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) developments while enabling the general public to select safer and healthier consumable products.

 

Today’s economy is all about driving product sales through the supply chain through flashy commercials and marketing hype. The well-being of our economy and the sustainability of our ecosystem depends on the quality of consumer goods.

 

Since all goods are composed of chemical compounds(aka ingredients), the ingredients determine the fate of our economy and ecosystem. It is vital to understand the ingredients and the associated health risks to consumers, the environment, and all living things therein.

 

The sole purpose of 1Source is to empower consumers to obtain goods by understanding the very nature of the product ingredients and avoiding unwanted health risks.

 

We are a holistic wellness platform that strives for a healthier and more sustainable world by promoting conscience business practices.

 

Striving for a Healthier and a More Sustainable World.

 

Goals:

1. A user-friendly online platform that educates the general public about the chemical ingredients in their daily products;

 

2. Empower consumers to select products without harmful ingredients such that the cultivation and distribution of risky substances are reduced, thus, creating a cleaner supply chain and fostering a healthier society;

 

3. Promote conscience business practices;

 

4. Reshape the advertising industry and the consumer market to be more transparent, responsible and honest instead of solely magnifying marketing hypes.

 

It all started with a skincare seminar that my wife dragged me to in early 2017. Although my interest in beauty products was non-existent, I was shocked to learn that many ingredients in popular skincare products were banned by the EU or even contained substances classified as carcinogens by the WHO. One case study mentioned in the seminar particularly shocked me; the study was of a girl who started her menstruation cycle when she was only eight years old due to specific ingredients used in skincare products as they created a hormonal imbalance. The study left me horrified due to the potential damage these products could cause to my children.

 

Moved by the girl's story, my wife proposed an interesting idea, “I think we should make a device that can scan for bad ingredients.” Though it was an off-hand remark, her words stuck in my mind for days. I did not know chemistry or the skincare industry, as my background stems from information technology, so I wasn’t sure how exactly I would bring her idea to fruition after researching and investigating more on the concept. In mid-2017, I drew up a rough idea to develop an app that would help the general public understand ingredients and their effects on both humans and the environment. I reached out to friends in various sectors, including the medical, software development, and medicinal chemistry fields, to create an app that lists scientific facts about ingredients and presents them clearly and concisely to the public. It was effectively the "Google” of ingredient information and safety.

 

Since the launch of our app in the Summer of 2018, 1Source’s database has racked up more than 500,000 product ingredient compositions and medical data points. We’ve created the world’s first risk assessment system for chemical compounds in applications such as Inhalation, swallowing, skin contact, and the environment (ISCE). Our Potential Risk Index (PRI) system ranks safety levels on a number scale from 1 through 10 (1 being safe and 10 being potentially detrimental to health).

 

We aim to empower the public through education, and we intend to make the market safer and more sustainable. The biggest issue with popular cosmetic and consumable brands is the magnification of the advantages of a few components in their products while ignoring potentially harmful ingredients. It is crucial to reinvent the advertising industry for these brands to change. Therefore, we would like to partner with our peers, health organizations, suppliers, and retailers to promote product and ingredient transparency. In the future, we hope to see 1Source’s PRI ratings on supermarket products both online and offline.

 

We hope more companies will adopt our search engine to filter out products based on personal health conditions and preferences, creating a new culture in the industry where the safety of customers, workers, animals, and the environment are treated with the care and attention that they deserve. Our economy shapes the world we live in for good or worse. We, the consumers, are the only ones that can alter the economy. We often talk about “changing the world” to be healthier and more sustainable, and we believe 1Source is the most practical and universal way to achieve this lofty goal.

 

 

Russell Yau

Founder & CEO

 

 

Evaluating ingredient safety is the core of the 1Source mission. We offer a holistic approach to empowering consumers to intuitively understand the potential health risks of the product composing chemicals.

 

We employ a scale of 1 to 10 and a traffic-light coloring system to indicate the associated health risks, i.e., the number 1 and the green color refer to the lowest risk. In contrast, the number 10 and the red color refer to the highest potential risk.

 

We have developed an algorithm for assessing the risk associated with the ingredients (chemical compounds). We consider various research studies from respected organizations, such as PubMed, PubChem, Toxicnet, and other professional journals, and consult regulations from worldwide government organizations, such as WHO, UN, EU, FDA, etc. For more information, please review our references section.

 

After collecting and analyzing information from these outlets, the algorithm will produce a Potential Risk Index (PRI) between 1 to 9 in four separate applications. These applications are ‘Inhale,’ ‘Swallow,’ ‘Contact,’ and ‘Environmental.’ We calculate these indexes based on the aggregation of data available from the various organizations and the deviation of elements to yield a risk index as shown in the table above.

 

An ingredient will only be assigned a risk index of 10 if it has been banned by a government or classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

 

It is important to note that the recommendations from the risk index should only be used as a supplementary source, and you should always consult medical professionals regarding any health inquiries.

 

Our algorithm takes into account all the disclosed ingredients. It reviews the intrinsic chemical properties and product applications to develop a Product PRI of 2 to 9 that correlates to the constituent ingredient PRIs.

 

If a product contains an ingredient with the highest risk of Ingredient PRI 10 in the same application category, then the Product PRI will be assigned 10.

 

The product must be manually vetted to obtain the safest Product PRI of 1. The vetting process goes beyond the ingredients per se. A company’s mission, values, ethics, management, facilities, and ESG scores are considered during the vetting process. We believe that these considerations play a large part in whether a product is genuinely risk-free or not.

 

For a company to have the 1Source VETTED seal of approval, it must have taken every possible consideration into making the most risk-free and environmentally friendly product possible.

 

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International Resin Identification Coding System (Plastic Codes):

Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) Prolonged (p201 of doc, 89/104 of PDF):

Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS):

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) Methodology:

World Health Organization (WHO) Model List of Essential Medicines:

World Health Organization (WHO) Institutional Repository for Information Sharing:

International Fragrance Association Transparency List:

European Union (EU) Approved Additives and their E Numbers:

Carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic (CMR) substances Category Carcinogens:

Cosmetic ingredients database:

European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) on naming & labeling convention (p119 of doc, 119/127 of PDF):

EU on Triclosan:

European Chemicals Agency (ECHA):

European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) Annex XIV: List of Substances Subject to Authorisation:

Canada’s List of Ingredients that are Prohibited for Use in Cosmetic Products:

Canada’s Natural Ingredients List:

Canada Environmental Emergency Regulations:

Comparative Toxicogenomic Database:

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Approved Sunscreen Ingredients:

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Food Additive Status List:

Generally Regarded As Safe Database (GRAS):

US National Toxicology Program (NTP) Report on Carcinogens:

US California Proposition 65, Chemicals known to the State to Cause Cancer or Developmental Toxicity:

US California Air Resources Board (CARB) Identified Toxic Air Contaminants:

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Pesticide Registration List N: Disinfectants for Use Against Coronaviruses:

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered, hospital-grade disinfectant approved for COVID-19:

Canada Gurvey & Berry:

Household Products Database:

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) on Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT):

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) on Butylated Hydroxytoluen (BHT):

PubChem:

PubMed:

Sigma-Aldrich Merck:

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Cancer List:

Hong Kong Consumer Council Reports:

Hong Kong Control of Chemicals Ordinance:

Hong Kong COVID-19 Health Advice:

Hong Kong Hazardous Chemicals Control Ordinance:

Japan’s List of Designated Food Additives:

Singapore Interim List of Household Products and Active Ingredients for Disinfection of COVID-19:

South Korea - Ministry of Food and Drug Safety - Prohibited/Restricted Chemicals

Japan - Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare - Restricted Ingredients

Palau Sunscreen Ban (Senate Bill No. 10-135, SD1, HD1):