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What are food additives?

Food additives are an important component of our food supply.


They mean that we can enjoy a wide variety of foods throughout
the year. They also have an important role in ensuring that our
food lasts longer and is easier to use. There are good reasons
for the use of food additives. They can be used to:
improve the keeping quality or stability of a food. For example,
sorbitol - humectant (420) - may be added to mixed dried fruit
to maintain the moisture level and softness of the fruit;
preserve food when this is the most practical way of extending
its storage life. For example, sulphur dioxide - preservative
(220) - is added to some meat products such as sausage meat
to prevent the bugs that cause food poisoning from growing;
and
improve the taste or appearance of a processed food.
For example, lecithin - emulsifier (322) - may be added to
margarine to help maintain texture.
Additives are used in processed foods in relatively small
quantities. Many substances used as additives also occur
naturally, such as vitamin C or ascorbic acid (300) in fruit and
lecithin (322) in eggs or soy beans.
How do I know what additives are in food?
If you want to know more about a particular food additive look
at the ingredient list on the food label where you will find the
additives name and number, for example, food acid (260).
You can use this information to gain a better understanding
of what is in the food you eat and why different food additives
are used. This is an example of an ingredient list, which might
appear on a packaged stir-fry meal:
Ingredients - pork, wheat flour, capsicum, pineapple,
green beans, sweet corn, sugar, tomato paste, pineapple
concentrate, thickener (1422), food acids (270, 260), soy
sauce, salt, natural flavours, vegetable gum (415), water
added.
The name of an approved food additive must be spelt out in full
on a food label if it doesnt have an appropriate class name or if
an additive number hasnt been allocated to it.
What do additives do?
Some food additives have more than one use. Food additives
are listed according to their functional or class names;
colourings add or restore colour to foods;
colour retention agents retain or intensify the colour of a
food;
preservatives help protect against deterioration caused by
micro-organisms;
artificial sweetening substances are substances which
impart a sweet taste for fewer kilojoules/calories than sugar;
flavour enhancers improve the flavour and/or aroma of food;
flavourings restore taste losses due to processing, maintain
uniformity and make food more palatable;
anti-caking agents keep powdered products such as salt,
flowing freely when poured;
emulsifiers help to prevent oil and water mixtures separating
into layers;
food acids help maintain a constant level of sourness in food;
humectants prevent foods such as dried fruits from drying
out;
mineral salts improve the texture of foods, such as processed
meats;
thickeners and vegetable gums improve texture and
maintain uniform consistency;
stabilisers maintain the uniform dispersion of substances in a
food;
flour treatment agents are substances added to flour to
improve baking quality or appearance;
glazing agents impart a shiny appearance or provide a
protective coating to a food;
propellants are gases which help propel food from a
container.
Who controls the use of food additives?
The use of food additives in foods is regulated by the Food
Standards Code and enforced in Australia under State and
Territory food laws. Standard 1.3.1 defines the uses of food
additives in foods. Food Standards Australia New Zealand
(FSANZ) is responsible for the development of, or variation to,
food standards in the Food Standards Code. The FSANZ Board
recommends its decisions to a Ministerial Council, made up of
State, Territory, Commonwealth and New Zealand Ministers,
prior to adoption into the Code.
Before recommending the use of any new additive in a particular
food, FSANZ needs to know:
Is the additive safe to eat (at the requested level in that
particular food)?
Are there good technological reasons for the use of the
additive?
Will consumers be clearly informed about its presence?
Only if satisfied on these points will FSANZ recommend a
maximum level of the additive permitted in particular foods,
based on technological need and providing it is well within safe
limits.
Food additive safety
FSANZ only allows for the use of additives if it can be
demonstrated that no harmful effects are expected to result. This
involves FSANZ evaluating the data obtained from extensive
testing of the additive. A decision on food additive safety is
based on the acceptable daily intake (ADI), which is the amount
of a food additive that can be eaten every day for an entire
lifetime without adverse effect.
Intolerance and food additives
Adverse reactions to food additives occur in a small proportion
of the population. A few people are intolerant to some food
additives. Intolerance does not depend on whether the food
additive is derived from a natural or synthetic source. More
people are intolerant to common foods such as peanuts, milk or
eggs than to food additives.
The labelling of food products helps people who are sensitive to
some food additives to avoid them.
More information
This information is an extract from the Food Standards Australia
New Zealand website:
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/foodmatters/foodad



ditives.cfm
South Australian Department of Health website:
www.health.sa.gov.au/pehs click on food safety




























International Journal of Environment and Pollution
Issue: Volume 10, Number 2 / 1998
Pages: 273 - 288
URL: Linking Options
Environmental dimensions of fertilizer and pesticide use; relevance to Indian agriculture
J.P. Painuly and S. Mahendra Dev
A1
Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, General Vaidya Marg, Goregaon (E), Mumbai-
400065, India.
A2
Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, General Vaidya Marg, Goregaon (E), Mumbai-
400065, India
Abstract:
This paper presents an overview of the environmental consequences of fertilizers and pesticides in
agriculture and the measures needed to mitigate the adverse impact of these chemicals on
environment. The issues are then analysed from the perspective of the use of fertilizers and pesticides
in Indian agriculture. Fertilizer consumption in India is concentrated in about one-third of the
cultivated area. Its use has been increasing but it is being used inefficiently. Pesticide use is also
concentrated in five states and on a few crops such as rice, cotton and chillies. Evidence from micro
studies on the environmental consequences of these chemicals is presented. It is suggested that the
present methods of fertilizer and pesticide use and growth are not sustainable. There are several
possible technologies and alternatives to reduce the adverse impact of these chemicals on the
environment, such as biological control of pests, integrated pest management, development of pest-
resistant varieties of crops, vermiculture. etc., that need to be supplemented through an economic
approach. These issues need to be considered while formulating strategies for sustainable agriculture
in India and other developing countries.
























Spider Mites Pests in Greenhouse
in GREENHOUSE, PEST CONTROL
Spider mite is commonly occurring pests that possess great threats to variety of plants such as cucumber. This
pest is capable of causing great level of damage to various parts of plants. Cucumber is one of the plants that get
affected in a big manner. There are various measures that can be utilized to achieve effective control of plants. The
usage of pesticide alone will not be of good use in acquiring required level of protection since this will not be able to
provide required level of protection. There is a need to depend upon other areas such as biological control programs
that will provide enhanced level of protection against this

Spider Mite Image
kind of pests. Spider mites can be controlled with the help of insect introduction inside the greenhouse region. The
population of spider mite pests will come down drastically with the help of this method that will be providing good level
of benefits. There are many people who have been benefited in a great manner with the help of natural enemies
control programs.
Resistance towards pesticide

Two spotted mite
One of the important aspects of these pests that make it very difficult to control the growth of pests with the help of
pesticides is that they show resistance towards organophosphorus pesticides. The usage of pesticides is no longer
fully effective in controlling the growth of this pest. There is a need to depend upon other type of methods that will be
providing good level of destruction of this pest. The best solution for achieving good control of this pest can be
achieved with the introduction of insects that are capable of eliminating the growth of spider mites in greenhouse.
Predator mites are one of the most effective insects that will be of good use in attacking these pests. The native
predator mites when introduced in smaller quantities will be able to reproduce inside greenhouse. This increases
number of predator mites that are present in greenhouse and increased resistance against these pests can be
achieved.
Rate of insect supply

Web of spider mites
The key to success behind effective control of spider mite pests using insect introduction process depends upon
timing of release of insects. Optimum quantity of insects should be released at correct time such that pests can be
removed in an easy manner. Usually, insects will be introduced at the rate of one insect per pant. Insects will be
introduced with interval of 2 to 3 weeks. Prevention of spider mite is an important process to achieve effective pest
control.
Natural Enemies For Suppression Pest Control in Greenhouse
in GREENHOUSE, PEST CONTROL, PLANT PROTECTI ON
It is one of the biggest challenges to control the growth of pests inside greenhouse. If left unattended, pests will
damage entire greenhouse area in a rapid manner. There should be greater level of care that should be incorporated
to control growth of pests and efforts should be made to stop invasion of these pests. Some of the common pests that
cause more level of damage to crops include whitefly, spider mites, aphids, tomato leaf miner, vegetable leaf miner
and many others. There are some cases in which application of pesticides will be inefficient. Other methods such as
biological control program will be of good use in halting the development of pests inside of greenhouse. Usage of
natural enemies for suppression will offer wonderful results. The results can be achieved at a faster rate when
compared to other methods.
Suppression using insects

orius laevigatus - fieber feeding on artificial diet
Insects can be used to attack various kinds of pests grows inside greenhouse. Before selection of particular insects is
being made, it is essential to analyze certain features. First of all, various kinds of pesticides and degree of damage
that is done to plants should be identified. Based on damage that was done to plants, it is essential to order insect
supplies from reputed source nearby your home. There are many people who are satisfied in a great manner with
protection that is being obtained with the help of insects. The desired rate of introduction of insects should be
identified based on level of damage that was done to plants. There are three main methods that can be used to
introduce insects namely conservation, inoculation and inundation. Inoculation involves introduction of smaller
quantity of insects to combat pests during initial growth period. Inundation incorporates usage of more amounts of
insects to prevent outbreak of pests after considerable development.
Selection of insects
For preventing attack of plants from whitefly pests, it will be a wonderful idea to select encarsia wasp that will destroy
pests at a rapid rate. The insect introduction can also be integrated with pesticides for obtaining effective results.
Predator mite insect will be an appropriate choice for dealing with spider mite pests. Researchers are trying to find
many new insects that will provide effective protection for greenhouse plants from being attacked by pests such as
aphids and many others. Insect supply is also one of the cheaper methods that can be used to obtain effective
protection of plants inside greenhouse.
Whitefly Pests
Whitefly pests are one of the major killers of tomato plant. Knowing about the lifecycle and growth of this pest will be of great use in
preventing the outbreak of this pest attack. This pest creates one of the biggest problems in greenhouse. There are several methods that are
available to control this pest. Some [...]
Read the full article
Common Greenhouse Pests
The damage caused by greenhouse pests to the plants inside glass has sparked great level of interest among researchers. To provide
effective protection to plants inside greenhouse, it is essential to understand the life cycle of pests such that they can be eradicated in best
possible manner. There are several methods that can be used [...]
Read the full article
Natural Enemies For Greenhouse Pests
Biological control program for protecting plants from pest attack is one of the most effective methods that will help plants to achieve good
level of growth. This is one of the most effective and best methods that can be used to prevent pest attack of plants inside greenhouse. The
introduction of natural enemies for greenhouse [...]
Read the full article
Pestering Insects
Pest control insects are those insects that have been, for years, creating much of the trouble to the human beings. Small size of the insects
does not help us either, and they get advantage of their micro size and escapes every of our attempt to kill them. But, there is a brighter and
sure fire [...]
Read the full article
Pest Control Slugs
Slugs are nothing but some kind of mollusk creatures, which contains jelly like fluid inside their body. The mollusk phylum family is a group of
slimy creatures, which are loathed all over the world. The slimy nature makes it slippery and they are not easily attacked physically. These
slimy creatures attack the low lives in [...]
Read the full article
Pest Control Beetles
A beetle is commonly known to many of us. But what it really does is not known by many of our people. The one unique feature about the
beetle is that it is having the most number of species that is ever known. Other feature of this is that the beetles are common in all [...]
Read the full article
Maggot Pest Control
A larval phase of any insect is known as the maggot. These things usually feed on the dead tissues of living organisms. It has both good and
bad associated with it. In most medical industries it is used to make living things cure from their respective diseases. This form of therapy is
known as maggot [...]
Read the full article
Cabbage Pest Control
All of us irrespective of the continent we live irrespective of the country we live there are many common things between us. One such thing is
the vegetables we eat. The most common vegetable of all time is the cabbage. Cabbage has a long history associated with it. The most
common color of the cabbage [...]
Read the full article
Knowing Earwig Infestation and Pest Control
Earwig is a small insect which is easily identifiable by its claws like rear part. These claws like structure are extremely innocuous and are
called pincers. Even though they are harmless to us, they are much of a nuisance to the plants and the herbs that we grow in our backyard.
The problem with the [...]
Read the full article
Garden Pest Control
People would always love to have attractive gardens at home. Gardens may consist of diverse plants that tend to make the admirers spell
bond. Gardening work consists of major work namely garden pest control. There are different types of garden pests that tend to provide
hindrance to the growth of the plant. Common garden pests [...]





















/406-18 final
Risk assessment on the use of triclosan in cosmetics
Prepared by the Scientific Committee in cooperation with the Panel on Biological Hazards and
the Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids, Materials in contact with Food and
Cosmetics
Date: 31.01.05
SUMMARY
Triclosan is a widely used biocide. It is included in many contemporary consumer- and professional
health-care products, particularly oral and dermal products, but also in household items including
plastics, textiles and food packaging materials.
Concerns have been raised regarding the widespread use of triclosan; both as regards the potential for
selection of resistant bacterial strains that may confer cross-resistance to other antimicrobial agents
and as regards the potential harm to the environment. Triclosan is classified as very toxic to aquatic
organisms and may cause long-term adverse effects to the environment by the European
Commission.
In March 2004, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority asked the Norwegian Scientific Committee for
Food Safety to prepare an updated risk assessment of the use of triclosan in cosmetics, regarding
development of resistance in pathogenic bacteria. The authority also asked for a comprehensive
toxicological examination of the chemical with indication of the margin of safety as regards use in
cosmetic products.
In response, three assessments were initiated; one to address the risk for development of
antimicrobial resistance in bacteria, one to address the toxicological aspects, and one to address
ecotoxicological matters.
From these three assessments, general conclusions have been drawn by the Scientific Committee
based on the conclusions from the Panel on Biological Hazards and the Panel on Food Additives,
Flavourings, Processing Aids, Materials in contact with Food and Cosmetics.
The conclusions are:
Widespread use of triclosan, including use in cosmetic products, selects for development of triclosan
resistance. Since this may contribute to the development and spread of concomitant resistance to
clinically important antimicrobial agents, such use represents a public health risk. Therefore, the use
of triclosan should be restricted.
The current regulation of use of triclosan in cosmetic products is from a toxicological point of view a
matter of concern and it is recommended that human exposure to triclosan should be reduced.
Moreover, triclosan is classified as an agent that may cause adverse environmental effects and hence
the use should be restricted also from an ecotoxicological standpoint.
1 Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety 04/406-18 final
BACKGROUND
Triclosan has been widely used since its introduction 40 years ago. However, in more recent years
the use of triclosan as a preservative, antiseptic and disinfectant in the USA and Europe has risen
significantly.
In Europe concerns have been raised regarding the widespread and increasing use of triclosan, in
view of the potential for selection of resistant bacterial strains that may confer cross-resistance to
clinically relevant antimicrobial agents. The former Norwegian Food Control Authority (SNT)
therefore asked scientific experts at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health to perform a risk
assessment on the use of triclosan in cosmetics (4
th
September 2000). The conclusion of this
assessment was as follows:
care must be taken to contribute as little as possible to the selection of resistant
bacteria............with this in mind, particularly in light of recent indications of its association
with the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, we recommend against the use of
triclosan in cosmetics and other products in general use, in which disinfectant action is
neither useful nor desirable.
In 2002, the former Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) of the EU appointed a working group of
experts with the mandate to draft a scientific report that could be used as input for the preparation of
a scientific opinion of the SSC regarding the safety of triclosan, especially related to the risk for
resistance development in certain microorganisms. The SSC concluded that:
There is no convincing evidence that triclosan poses a risk to humans or to the environment
by inducing or transmitting antibacterial resistance under current conditions of use.
The Scientific Committee on Cosmetic Products and Non-Food Products intended for Consumers
(SCCNFP) of the EU evaluated the opinion of the SSC and concluded that:
1: Under current conditions of use of triclosan as a preservative in cosmetic products, it is
safe taking into account the risk of resistance by certain micro-organisms.
2: There is no need for setting a new concentration limit for the use of triclosan in cosmetic
products.
The experts at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health evaluated the assessment of the SSC and
SCCNFP, and concluded that their own recommendations of September 2000 remain valid (8
th
November 2002). The Norwegian Food Control Authority, in a letter to the European Commission,
DG Enterprise (Biotechnology, competitiveness in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics), called for a re-
evaluation of the permission to use triclosan in cosmetic products (20
th
December 2002). The
recommendations from the Norwegian experts were also stressed at a meeting in the Working Party
on Cosmetics in the European Commission. The call for re-evaluation was answered in March 2003,
where the European Commission asked the Norwegian Food Control Authority for an assessment
based on new data and after consideration of the SCCNFPs opinion on triclosan.
Triclosan is approved for use in cosmetic products in Norway and the European Union. In the EU,
Triclosan is also approved for use in food contact material made of plastic. In that context the EU
Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) did a toxicological evaluation of triclosan in 2000 which is
considered in the toxicological part of this risk assessment. Because of the extensive use of triclosan
in cosmetics there is a need to review and update the toxicological information and to assess the
margin of safety in the use of triclosan in cosmetics.
2 Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety 04/406-18 final
Furthermore, triclosan is classified as very toxic to aquatic organisms and may cause long-term
adverse effects to the environment by the European Commission.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Based on the opinion from Norwegian experts, as well as the reports from SSC and SCCNFP,
regarding the use of triclosan and the possibility for development of antimicrobial resistance in
bacteria, it was concluded that an updated risk assessment was necessary. In March 2004, the
Norwegian Food Safety Authority asked the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety:
to prepare an updated risk assessment for the use of triclosan in cosmetics, regarding
development of resistance in pathogenic bacteria
1
. The authority also asks for a
comprehensive toxicological examination of the chemical with indication of the margin of
safety as regards the usage in cosmetic products
2

Because of the broad use of triclosan and the subsequent possibility for the chemical to be spread out
in the environment, the Committee found it relevant to also include a summary of an evaluation of
the environmental effects of triclosan that the Norwegian Institute for Water Research has prepared
previously for the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority.
ASSESSMENT
Three assessments have been prepared and are attached. The conclusions from each of these
assessments are as follows:
I: Development of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria
Bacterial isolates with reduced susceptibility to triclosan have been produced in laboratory
experiments by repeated exposure of bacteria to sub-lethal doses of triclosan.
A number of studies have verified the occurrence of acquired triclosan resistance among dermal,
intestinal and environmental bacterial species, including some of clinical relevance. However, studies
involving clinical isolates have been relatively limited. A number of different mechanisms for the
development of acquired triclosan resistance have been demonstrated.
The possibility that acquired triclosan resistance may contribute to reduced susceptibility to clinically
important antimicrobial agents, due to either cross-resistance or co-resistance mechanisms, is a
matter of major concern. Experimental data have confirmed the potential for such a link.
The Panel on Biological Hazards refers to the report Development of antimicrobial resistance in
bacteria
II: Toxicity of triclosan in cosmetic products
Based on reviews of the extensive toxicological data-base for triclosan the Panel on Food Additives,
Flavourings, Processing Aids, Materials in contact with Food and Cosmetics identified a No
Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) of 25 mg/kg/day. The Panel used
1
Mattilsynet (ber) med dette brev om at VKM utarbeider en oppdatert risikovurdering nr det gjelder bruk av
triclosan i kosmetikk og kroppspleieprodukter. Dette gjelder risiko for resistensutvikling i patogene bakterier.
2
Vi nsker samtidig en utfyllende toksikologisk gjennomgang av stoffet med angivelse av sikkerhetsmargin for
kosmetikkbruk
3 Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety 04/406-18 final
the SCCNFP notes of guidance to calculate the global estimate of exposure of preservatives based on
extensive use scenarios including levels permitted for use in cosmetic products. The exposure of
triclosan from other sources, which is considered to be very small, was not taken into account. The
estimated safety margin in relation to permitted levels was found to be less than 100 and therefore the
Panel found the current regulation of triclosan content in cosmetic products to be a matter of concern.
Based on the relative contributions from different sources of cosmetic products the Panel gave the
following recommendations:
The content of triclosan in mouthwash should be as low as possible
The maximal level of triclosan in rinse-off products and toothpaste should be reduced
The current maximal level in eye products and non rinse-off products do not represent a
toxicological problem

The Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids, Materials in contact with Food and
Cosmetics refers to the report Toxicity of triclosan in cosmetic products
III: Environmental effects of triclosan
Triclosan has a log octanol/water partition coefficient of 4.76 which indicates a potential for
bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation in fish has been documented in several studies.
The possibility that todays use of triclosan could cause adverse environmental effects on some
sensitive algae species can not be excluded.
The Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids, Materials in contact with Food and
Cosmetics refers to the report Environmental effects of triclosan
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
Widespread use of triclosan, including in cosmetic products, selects for development of triclosan
resistance. Since this may contribute to the development and spread of concomitant resistance to
clinically important antimicrobial agents, such use represents a public health risk. Therefore, the use
of triclosan should be restricted.
The current regulation of use of triclosan in cosmetic products is from a toxicological point of view a
matter of concern and it is recommended that human exposure to triclosan should be reduced.
Moreover, triclosan is classified as an agent that may cause adverse environmental effects and hence
the use should be restricted also from an ecotoxicological standpoint.
SCIENTIFIC PANEL MEMBERS
In the Scientific Committee:
shild Krogdahl (chair), Bjrn Nss, Hilde Kruse, Erik Dybing, Ingolf Nes, Jan Alexander,
Janneche Utne Skre, Anne Kathrine Haldorsen, Martinus Lvik, Wenche Farstad, Lene Frost
Andersen, Georg Kapperud, yvind Lie, Judith Narvhus, Leif Sundheim
In the Panel on Biological Hazards:
Hilde Kruse (chair), Georg Kapperud, Jrgen Lassen, Bjrn Tore Lunestad, Truls Nesbakken, Espen
Rimstad, Lucy Robertson, Eystein Skjerve, Yngvild Wasteson
In the Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids, Materials in contact with Food and
Cosmetics:
Jan Alexander (chair), Trine Husy, Kristine Naterstad, Jan Erik Paulsen, Tore Sanner,
Inger-Lise Steffensen
4 Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety 04/406-18 final
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Torsten Kllqvist from the Panel on Plant health, Plant Protection products and their Residues is
acknowledged for his work on the preparation of Environmental effects of triclosan.
The Chair and members of the working group on antimicrobial resistance are acknowledged for their
valuable contribution to this mandate. The members of the working group are:
Hilde Kruse (chair), Arne Hiby, Anne A. Scheie, Bjrn-Tore Lunestad, Even Heir, Kristine
Naterstad
Scientific coordinators from the secretariat: Siamak Yazdankhah, Tor ystein Fotland, Beate Folger
5
U.S. AND E.U. COSMETIC REGULATION SIMILARITIES

There are numerous similarities between the way that the United States and the European Union regulate cosmetic
products. As demonstrated by the following table, consumers in both regions can feel confident that their cosmetic
products are safe.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA)
European Union (E.U.)
Relevant Cosmetic
Regulation
Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act
(1938 as amended) and the Fair
Packaging and Labeling Act (1967)
The 1976 E.U. Cosmetics Directive implemented in
1986 and amended for the seventh time in 2003
Requires that
cosmetics be safe
for intended use
prior to marketing?
Yes, proof of cosmetic safety is a
responsibility of the manufacturer or its
distributor in the U.S.
Yes, proof of cosmetic safety is a responsibility of
the manufacturer or its distributor in the E.U.
Requirement for
pre-market
submission of
safety data and
pre-market product
approval?
No.
However, manufacturers are encouraged
to register their establishments and list
their cosmetic products and ingredients
through FDA's Voluntary Cosmetics
regulation program.
The FDA can inspect cosmetic
manufacturing plants or offices at any
time, even without notice. These
inspections do occur in case safety is
questioned.
FDA also has authority to:
Ban or restrict cosmetics
ingredients for safety
reasons
No.
However, a full technical file on the cosmetic
product must be kept available for inspection upon
request of the local authorities at a specified
address in the E.U.
Authorities must give 48-hour notice for inspection.
The technical file contains:
Full product and formula
specifications, manufacturing process
and relevant micro/stability data
Proof of cosmetic safety
Proof of pack claims
Record of any type of health-related consumer
comments (e.g., allergy reactions), NOT normal
Mandate cosmetics warning
labels
Inspect cosmetics
manufacturing facilities
Issue warning letters
Seize illegal products
Enjoin unlawful activities
Prosecute violators
Work with manufacturing in
implementing nationwide
product recalls
consumer complaints.
Exceptions that
require pre-market
approval?
Yes, for color additives. Also, OTC
cosmetic drug active ingredients are
regulated by the FDA under their
monograph system (e.g., anti-dandruff,
anti-cavity, anti-perspirant, sunscreens,
etc.) that lists approved actives, conc.,
uses, etc.
Yes, for colors (including hair dye colorants),
sunscreen active ingredients and preservatives. In
general all active cosmetic ingredients require pre-
approval in the E.U., for example anti-dandruff
active ingredients, anti-tooth-caries fluoride
compounds, anti-perspirant aluminum salts, etc. are
all listed in a special annex III of the Cosmetics
Directive.
Risk assessment is
part of safety
evaluation
process?
Yes. Yes, the safety assessor report is a key part of the
technical file mentioned above.
Mandatory label
warning statement
if safety of product
has not been
determined?
Yes. Without safety substantiation, Title
21 CFR, Part 740.10 requires that
cosmetic products carry the following:
"Warning: The safety of this product has
not been determined."
No such option in Europe. Hence the "negative" list
system enforced via the SCCS (see below).
Ingredient safety
reviews by
independent
scientific body is
part of cosmetic
safety process?
Yes (by the CIR)*
* Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert
Panel
Yes (by SCCS)**
** E.U. Scientific Committee on Consumer Products
This body in the E.U. is responsible of reviewing all
special and active cosmetic ingredients and
declaring whether they are safe or not. Hence there
is a "negative list" type of system. For perspective,
today there are over 1,100 substances listed in
annex II (list of "banned" ingredients) and the list
keeps growing largely with substances that are not
used in cosmetics, but are published by the SCCS
simply for enforcement reasons.
Expert ingredient
safety reviews
Yes, published in peer-
reviewed International Journal of
Yes, published on the Scientific Committee on
Consumer Safety (SCCS) Web site
publicly available? Toxicology and on Cosmetic Ingredient
Review (CIR) Web sites
Requirement to list
ingredients on
label?
Yes.
Individual perfume ingredients don't have
to be listed; lumped under "fragrance."

Yes.
Additionally, as per 7th Amendment, starting March
2005, the cosmetic ingredient list must include 26
specific perfume ingredients if percent exceeds
predetermined limits. These 26 ingredients have
been identified by the SCCS as potential allergens.
There is an exemption from labeling for technical
impurities that cannot be eliminated - these should
not be present at a level that raise cosmetics safety
concerns (e.g., carry-over ingredients such as
preservatives of raw materials are labeled if present
at significant levels that could trigger allergy in
people who are pre-sensitized).
Banned
Ingredients?
Yes.
List of nine cosmetic ingredients
restricted or prohibited by the FDA.
Nine additional cosmetic ingredients
judged by the Cosmetic International
Review Expert Panel not safe for use in
cosmetics.
International Fragrance Association also
establishes usage guidelines for
fragrance materials. IFRA recommends
against the use of over 30 substances
and advises limiting the use of many
others.
Yes.
Annex II includes over 1,100 ingredients and the list
keeps growing as the SCCS continues to publish
many ingredients that are not generally used in
cosmetics, for example CMR 1 & 2 classified
substances.

Within the United States, cosmetics are regulated under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, which is enforced by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has abundant legal authority to regulate the safety of cosmetic
products. The FDA, however, has had comparatively little need to use its authority, as cosmetics are composed of
safe ingredients and, when necessary, the cosmetics industry has acted voluntarily to prevent safety problems. The
bottom line for consumers is that they can have complete confidence that the cosmetic products they use are safe.

The Use of Preservatives in
Beauty Products
Understanding what goes into every
day beauty products can be very confusing, especially when there are so many
stories regarding what to try and avoid. In particular, the use of preservatives
and what is safe and effective. We have put together a no nonsense straight
forward approach to understanding this in order to allow you to make the
decision right for you.

What is a Preservative, and why do we need them?
Preservatives are used to stop products from deteriorating by protecting them
against contamination once theyre in use. Preservatives are essential in
maintaining the quality and safety of many of the products we use daily.
Without them, bacteria, and other harmful organisms could develop in
products leading safety issues.
Did you know that bacteria, yeasts and moulds are always present on our skin,
in the air around us and even in the water we drink? It is there for easy to
understand how these can easily get into the products we use.
Contamination of products, especially those used around the eyes and on the
skin, can cause irritation and sensitivity problems if the level of contamination
is high. Preservatives can prevent these problems by stopping micro-
organisms from multiplying in the product.

So What Makes a Good Preservative?
In order to ensure a product is safe to use, while preventing the development
of contaminants, it is crucial to use the right preservative. There is no standard
preservative system that can be used for all kinds of cosmetic products and so
dependant on brand, ingredient content, and customer preference there are
two groups of Preservatives that are used Synthetic or Natural, or a
combination of both.

Natural Preservatives
There are natural preservatives available for use in products. These generally
cover a smaller spectrum of bacterial activity, and thus shorten the shelf life of
the product. These ingredients include:
Extracts (Grapefruit Seed, Rosemary)
Essential Oils (Tea Tree, Neem Seed, Thyme)
Vitamins (Vitamin E, Vitamin C)

Synthetic Preservatives
There are a hand full of synthetic preservatives that are commonly used by the
cosmetic and toiletry industries:
Parabens: Methyl-, Ethyl-, Propyl-, Butylparaben
Urea-Derivatives: Imidazolidinyl Urea, Diazolidinyl Urea
Isothiazolones: Methylchloro-, Methyl-Isothiazolinone
Halogen-Organic Actives: Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Methyldibromo
Glutaronitrile
Organic Acids & Others: Sodium Benzoate, Chloracetamide, EDTA,
Phenoxyethanol, Triclosan, DMDM-Hydantoin, Quaternium-15
Parabens are the most widely used synthetic preservatives. However some
brands, particularly those containing high levels of naturally-derived
ingredients, use Paraben-free preservatives to avoid any potential health risks.
The UK Soil Association has fully approved Phenoxyethanol for use in natural
and organic products, as it has a long history of safe usage and has no negative
environmental impact.
In Conclusion
Ultimately, we all want safe and effective beauty products that are a pleasure
to use and deliver results. The rule to follow when choosing your products is to
check the preservation system in the products you are considering and opt for
the solution that meets your own needs and concerns.


Knight Tour Tessellations


(click on image to see a 32x32 Knight's Tour)
In the above Closed Knight's Tour animation, notice the basic patterns being made by
each consecutive 16 moves of the knight. By putting each pattern on a separate chess
board,




closing the open pattern to make a geometric shape, and filling in the pattern with the
same color as the line path's color, there now exists four pieces that can be connected
into one piece,




in such a way that it can be tessellated. Tessellation means the complete covering or
tiling of a plane or space with a non-overlapping shape.


(Click image to see another Knight Tour tessellation.
Be the first to recreate the original closed Knight's Tour from that tessellation and
WIN $500.00)
[Contest is over as of May 29, 2003. Here is the Solution along with the best two
entries.]

Michiel de Bondt used the above tessellational patterns to make a very nice web-page
background forhttp://www.math.ru.nl/lo_shu_tot_sudoku/. As you can see, Arno van
den Essen used the same tessellational background for the cover of his
book: Magische Vierkanten - Lo Shu Tot Sudoku.

Michiel and Arno are both mathematicians in the Netherlands at the Radboud
Universiteit Nijmegen Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics.
Arno states the following about his Dutch book:
On pages 100-103 I describe your work on tessellations and mention on page 101
that also the tessellations on the cover are created by you.

On page 227 I refer to your internet site www.borderschess.org/KnightTour.htm. The
translation of the Dutch text is: "A beautiful site of Dan Thomasson on knight tours,
containing very nice and artistic applications."

Of course, on page 11, I thank you (and some other people) for their help!
Knight Tour tessellations can be used to create beautiful symmetrical patterns. A few
of the many possibilities are shown below.




Astersphaira (Star Sphere) represents the surrounding stars of the Universe. It is a 3-d
tiling of 12 stars. Each of the five limbs of the stars were created by the diamond
patterns made from the knight's move on the chess board. If a boarder-line was drawn
around the outer perimeter of each star, 12 pentagon patterns would appear, thus
making a Dodecahedron (12 sided figure). Historically the Dodecahedron symbolizes
the Universe.
At the same time, when looking at the Astersphaira, one may notice 20 triangular
shapes made with 3 diamond patterns each. This construction would then be called
an Icosahedron. Both the Dodecahedron and the Icosahedron are harmoniously
intertwined. The Icosahedron has 20 faces and 12 vertices while the Dodecahedron
has 12 faces and 20 vertices, an exact reciprocal of each other.
Here are a couple other regular and irregular tessellational patterns made from the
same knight's tour diamond shapes.



What do you get when you cross a Dodecahedron with an Icosahedron? Answer.


(click on the image above to see a tiled sphere)

Did you notice when looking at the tiled sphere that both the Icosidodecahedron and
the Hexastersphaira graphics are actually identical. By replacing the perimeter edges
in the Icosidodecahedron with star limbs, the Hexastersphaira takes its form.
Polarsphaira (Polar Sphere) represents the polarity of the earth and earth itself. It is a
3-d tiling of six compass shapes. Each compass contains four rhombus
patterns (representing North, South, East, and West) made from the knight's move on
the chess board. If a boarder-line was drawn around the outer perimeter of each
compass, 6 square patterns would appear, thus making a Cube orHexahedron (6 sided
figure). Historically the Hexahedron symbolizes the Earth.
At the same time, when looking at the Polarsphaira, one may notice 8 triangular
shapes made with 3 rhombus patterns each. This construction would then be called
an Octahedron. Both the Hexahedron and the Octahedron are harmoniously
intertwined, as is the Dodecahedron and Icosahedron mentioned earlier. The
Hexahedron has 6 faces and 8 vertices while the Octahedron has 8 faces and 6
vertices, an exact reciprocal of each other.
Four of the five platonic solids are represented by the knight's move on the chess
board. The perimeters of these platonic solids can all be seen in "Creation Designed".
The only other pattern made by the knight is a square pattern which makes a cube.
The fifth platonic solid, not yet mentioned, is the Tetrahedron which is contained
within the cube. The Tetrahedron represents the concept of system. It is the
underlying basic structure of the earth, sun, stars, and life itself. In reality,
approximately 90% of all the earth's crust is made from silicate minerals (a group of
rock forming minerals) which are based on the fundamental structural unit: a
Tetrahedron.





The paper model shown above combines the Astersphaira (Universe) and Polarsphaira
(Earth). I made an ornament of sorts where thePolarsphaira resides inside the
Astersphaira. Inside of the Polarsphaira resides the final shape of the knight's tour, a
square which makes a cube containing the hidden Tetrahedron. It is a quarter inch
block of wood that will have six different jeweled tiles covering each of the faces. The
tiles represent the cyrstals or precious gemstones of the earth that have a cubic or
hexagonal crystaline structure (diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, topaz, amethyst).
They act as the inner light or energy source for the world.
I could use the individual spheres for geometric analysis. Combined into a model,
they can make lamps, mobiles, and different types of ornaments. The cube in the
center of the ornament can still be the various jeweled tiles but with a small lightbulb
in the center to radiate the various colors of red, green, blue, purple, yellow, and clear.
Rotating the individual spheres in opposite directions while lighting the cube would
make an interesting effect.
The stand and the combined spheres were extremely easy to make. I used 67 lb white
cover paper, a drink sterring straw, coated copper wire, thick piano wire, and Elmer's
glue. I got the quarter inch wood cube and quarter inch jeweled tiles from Michaels, a
local craft store. When you make the spheres out of paper, you can actually collapse
the spheres inward to make other star or spur shapes. Collapse the spheres until the
edges of the limbs touch each other. Pretty cool patterns appear similar to the
beautiful candle lantern shown on either side of the paper model. The candle lantern is
a one-of-a-kind handcrafted piece made in a small mountain town in the heart of
Mexico. The lantern was distributed to a local gift shop via Norwich, Vermont under
the label: Viva! the Evolution.
Isn't it interesting about the dichotomy of creation. The Astersphaira (Star Sphere)
contains the Dodecahedron and Icosahedron. The Polarsphaira (Polar Sphere) contains
the Hexahedron and Octahedron. Notice that those shapes can be easily created from
spheres when using the 3-d tiling of the knight move patterns. I like using the model
as a teaching aid to show the relationships of the platonic solids. The cube at the
center of the Polarsphaira contains the Tetrahedron but it is not visible to the eye. The
ornament can have several different stories associated with it such as the following:
The Christian Trinity of the Father (Astersphaira), the Son (Polarsphaira), and
the Holy Ghost (Tetrahedron)
The Biblical book of Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, God created the heavens
(Astersphaira) and the earth (Polarsphaira)
The Hindu mythological male Purusha (Icosahedron) and female Prakriti
(Dodecahedron) giving birth to Purusha Junior
The Chinese Yen and Yang, nature's two channels of electric-flows which
bring about changes in the Universe
The Chemistry or Physics "polaron", a conducting electron in an ionic crystal
together with the induced polarization of the surrounding lattice
I made up the words Astersphaira, Polarsphaira, and Hexastersphaira using mostly the
Greek language to give homage to Greek geometry. Astersphaira is from the Greek
Aster (Star) + sphaira (sphere). Polarsphaira is from the new Latin Polaris (Polar) +
sphaira (sphere). Hexastersphaira is from the Greek Hex (Six) + aster (star) + sphaira
(sphere).
With 3-d glasses (red-blue, or red-green), you can enjoy looking at 3-d models of the
platonic solids that change shape automatically in a Java applet found at
dogfeathers.com web site. I felt like I could touch the shapes coming out of my
monitor. Check out some 4-d hyperspace polytopes in the following links. A polytope
is a 4th dimension polygon.
Hyperspace Star Polytope Slicer
Stellations of the Dodecahedron
The following tessellational patterns encompass all the basic shapes (square, diamond,
and rhombus) made by the knight's tour moves. They show two different geometrical
cubic staircase patterns.





Four Color Chain-Linked Tessellation
While playing around with knight moves on the chessboard from the home page, I
ended up with an interesting symmetrical pattern that could be turned into a very nice
four color chain-linked tessellation. Enjoy the following animation.



After making the above animation, I connected the four symmetrical patterns from the
8x8 square to make a 7x7 square tessellation piece. I then divided each individual
pattern within the square into three smaller shapes representing the 2x1 "L" shaped
move of the Knight. I changed the colors of the red squares within the four
symmetrical patterns of the Knight's Tour to include blue, green, yellow, and white.
As you will see, the white patterns become the background, and there are no white
colored links. All the white shapes should be transparent, thus only showing the red,
green, blue, and yellow links. The center square of the 7x7 tessellation piece is
actually a gap, as can be seen in the animation.



Four copies of the 7x7 square shown above on the right, can be connected together in
such a way as to make a single larger tessellation piece. The center white square of the
four combined pieces is also a gap. Therefore, the pattern is not a true regular
tessellation, but a complex tessellation where small gaps do exist. None-the-less, the
tiling of the tessellation piece makes for an interesting interlocking chain of red,
green, blue, and yellow square links.



Now we can replicate the larger tessellation piece, and tile the pieces into a work of
art that I call the Four Color Chain-Linked Tessellation (derived from Knight's
Tour):


(Click image to see a Four Color Chain-Linked Regular Tessellation)

Here are a couple other examples of the chain-linked tessellation. When you create
your own similar tessellations, experiment with different colors for the links and the
background. You may even use actual scenic pictures for the background. If the
pictures look fuzzy, or the edges of the square links look jagged or rough, expand the
browser window to full screen, then press F11 (Internet Explorer). To get Internet
Explorer back to the original view, press F11 again. Using 1024x768 or greater screen
resolution size may also help.
Black and White Chain-Linked Tessellation

Multi-Colored Chain-Linked Tessellation

Patriotic Chain-Linked Tessellation 1

Patriotic Chain-Linked Tessellation 2
While creating these square chain-linked tessellations, I decided to go ahead and make
a simple interlocking ring tessellation. The curves are a bit rough, so I'll need to redo
the rings when I get a better graphics program. Perhaps someone can suggest a good,
yet simple, geometric graphics program I can use.



Here are a couple other crude drawings of circle tessellations.
Circle Tessellation


Multi-Circle Tessellation

Here is a tile called "Illusion" that I created. It can be used as a web-page background
image such ashttp://www.borderschess.org/illusion.htm, or for other artistic creations.
Depending on one's perception of the tiling, different objects may appear with various
2-D or 3-D orientations. The flow of the objects appear to move in opposite
directions. Experiment with different color combinations when making your own
tessellation pieces using my "Illusion" design.

ILLUSION

2005, Dan Thomasson
Just for fun, I animated only two frames of the "Illusion" tile to create a new
tessellation called "Still Motion." Seehttp://www.borderschess.org/Still-Motion.htm.

STILL MOTION

2005, Dan Thomasson
The further your eyes are from the screen, the more the lines in the "Still Motion"
tessellation appear to oscillate when looking at the web-page background. Actually,
the only thing that changes is the medium grey and white colors alternating within the
tile pattern. If you copy my tessellation designs, or any other graphics from my web-
site for publication, or posting on your web-site, please reference my name and
copyright date.
As for the unique geometry created by knight moves that can make beautiful 2-
dimensional, 3-dimensional, and multi-dimensional tessellations, I call this
geometry: Springer Geometry (patented as Geometric Craft and Educational Kit -
Patent #7029364, April 18, 2006). Check out the book POLYHEDRA 2 Part
2 (under Symmetry: Culture and Science - Latest Issues), where you will find a 17
page article I wrote about Springer Geometry. The article was published in Budapest,
Hungary, in the journal of Symmetrion calledSymmetry: Culture and Science Volume
13, Numbers 3-4, pages 401-417, 2002 (ISSN #0865-4824, ISBN #963 214 761 8). It
is published by the International Symmetry Foundation.

See the following abstract for the article:
Polygonal shapes made by chess pieces on the chessboard, especially those made by
the knight, are the subjects of this text. The article is named "Springer Geometry," to
give homage to the great German chess players and mathematicians throughout the
ages. 'Springer' is the German translation for the English word: 'knight.' I dedicate
this article to Grandmaster Karsten Mller, a top German chess player and doctor of
mathematics who graciously took the time to translate my Knight's Tour Web site,
http://www.borderschess.org/KnightTour.htm, into German. While focusing on
chess-piece polygons, this article covers the following three topics: 1) Polygons as
Counters, 2) Tessellations, and 3) Ornament-type Symmetrical Spheres.
Many thanks goes to Paul Bourke for his excellent and professional renderings of
my Springer Geometry concepts. Check out the following letter from Paul Bourke to
see how he is using my geometry in Astrophysics.
Much of my work on Knight Tours is referenced on hundreds of other Web sites, and
used by schools, universities, and technical institutes to help their students learn
programming logic, create artwork such as tessellations from Knight Tours, and to
learn basic concepts about geometry (platonic solids) and other areas of mathematics.
See the following small sampling of who is using my Knight's Tour information:
Louisville High School, Louisville, NE, Mathematics Department: Math Websites and
Math Games
Philipps-Universitt Marburg, Fachbereich Mathematik und Informatik: Ubungen zu,
Parallelitt in funktionalen Sprachen Nr. 12, Abgabe: 5. November in der Vorlesung
University of Edinburgh, Science and Engineering, School of Informatics: MSc -
Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence, First Assessed Practical
University of Maryland, Computer Science, College of Engineering: UMBC CMSC 201
Project 4 Fall 2006



www.BordersChess.org/KTtess.htm modified 2007.4.30


What Is a Tessellation?



About This Project || What is a Tessellation? || Tessellation Tutorials || Tessellation Links

Definition
A tessellation is created when a shape is repeated over and over again covering a plane
without any gaps or overlaps.
Another word for a tessellation is a tiling. Read more here: What is a Tiling?
A dictionary* will tell you that the word "tessellate" means to form or arrange small
squares in a checkered or mosaic pattern. The word "tessellate" is derived from the Ionic
version of the Greek word "tesseres," which in English means "four." The first tilings
were made from square tiles.
A regular polygon has 3 or 4 or 5 or more sides and angles, all equal. A regular
tessellation means a tessellation made up of congruent regular polygons.
[Remember: Regular means that the sides and angles of the polygon are all equivalent
(i.e., the polygon is both equiangular and equilateral). Congruent means that the polygons
that you put together are all the same size and shape.]
Only three regular polygons tessellate in the Euclidean plane: triangles, squares or
hexagons. We can't show the entire plane, but imagine that these are pieces taken from
planes that have been tiled. Here are examples of
a tessellation of triangles

a tessellation of squares

a tessellation of hexagons

When you look at these three samples you can easily notice that the squares are lined up
with each other while the triangles and hexagons are not. Also, if you look at 6 triangles
at a time, they form a hexagon, so the tiling of triangles and the tiling of hexagons are
similar and they cannot be formed by directly lining shapes up under each other - a slide
(or a glide!) is involved.
You can work out the interior measure of the angles for each of these polygons:
Shape
triangle
square
pentagon
hexagon

Angle measure in degrees
60
90
108
120
more than six sides more than 120 degrees
Since the regular polygons in a tessellation must fill the plane at each vertex, the interior
angle must be an exact divisor of 360 degrees. This works for the triangle, square, and
hexagon, and you can show working tessellations for these figures. For all the others, the
interior angles are not exact divisors of 360 degrees, and therefore those figures cannot
tile the plane.
Reinforce this idea with the Regular Tessellations interactive activity:
Teacher Lesson Plan || Student Page
Naming Conventions
A tessellation of squares is named "4.4.4.4". Here's how: choose a vertex, and then look
at one of the polygons that touches that vertex. How many sides does it have?
Since it's a square, it has four sides, and that's where the first "4" comes from. Now keep
going around the vertex in either direction, finding the number of sides of the polygons
until you get back to the polygon you started with. How many polygons did you count?
There are four polygons, and each has four sides.


For a tessellation of regular congruent hexagons, if you choose a vertex and count the sides of
the polygons that touch it, you'll see that there are three polygons and each has six sides, so this
tessellation is called "6.6.6":


A tessellation of triangles has six polygons surrounding a vertex, and each of them has
three sides: "3.3.3.3.3.3".

Semi-regular Tessellations
You can also use a variety of regular polygons to make semi-regular tessellations. A
semiregular tessellation has two properties which are:
1. It is formed by regular polygons.
2. The arrangement of polygons at every vertex point is identical.
Here are the eight semi-regular tessellations:




Interestingly there are other combinations that seem like they should tile the plane
because the arrangements of the regular polygons fill the space around a point. For
example:

If you try tiling the plane with these units of tessellation you will find that they cannot be
extended infinitely. Fun is to try this yourself.
1. Hold down on one of the images and copy it to the clipboard.
2. Open a paint program.
3. Paste the image.
4. Now continue to paste and position and see if you can tessellate it.

There are an infinite number of tessellations that can be made of patterns that do not have
the same combination of angles at every vertex point. There are also tessellations made of
polygons that do not share common edges and vertices. You can learn more by following
the links listed in Other Tessellation Links and Related Sites.
Michael South has contributed some thoughts to the discussion.
*Steven Schwartzman's The Words of Mathematics (1994, The Mathematical Association
of America) says:
tessellate (verb), tessellation (noun): from Latin tessera "a square tablet" or "a die used for
gambling." Latin tessera may have been borrowed from Greek tessares, meaning "four," since a
square tile has four sides. The diminutive of tessera was tessella, a small, square piece of stone
or a cubical tile used in mosaics. Since a mosaic extends over a given area without leaving any
region uncovered, the geometric meaning of the word tessellate is "to cover the plane with a
pattern in such a way as to leave no region uncovered." By extension, space or hyperspace may
also be tessellated.
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Basis for definition
Any polyhedron can be built up from different kinds of element or entity, each associated with a different
number of dimensions:
3 dimensions: The body is bounded by the faces, and is usually the volume enclosed by them.
2 dimensions: A face is a polygon bounded by a circuit of edges, and usually including the flat (plane)
region inside the boundary. These polygonal faces together make up the polyhedral surface.
1 dimension: An edge joins one vertex to another and one face to another, and is usually
a line segment. The edges together make up the polyhedral skeleton.
0 dimensions: A vertex (plural vertices) is a corner point.
-1 dimension: The null polytope is a kind of non-entity required by abstract theories.
More generally in mathematics and other disciplines, "polyhedron" is used to refer to a variety of related
constructs, some geometric and others purely algebraic or abstract.
A defining characteristic of almost all kinds of polyhedra is that just two faces join along any common
edge. This ensures that the polyhedral surface is continuously connected and does not end abruptly or
split off in different directions.
A polyhedron is a 3-dimensional example of the more general polytope in any number of dimensions.
[edit]Characteristics
[edit]Names of polyhedra
Polyhedra are often named according to the number of faces. The naming system is again based on
Classical Greek, for
example tetrahedron (4), pentahedron (5), hexahedron (6), heptahedron (7),triacontahedron (30), and so
on.
Often this is qualified by a description of the kinds of faces present, for example the Rhombic
dodecahedron vs. the Pentagonal dodecahedron.
Other common names indicate that some operation has been performed on a simpler polyhedron, for
example the truncated cube looks like a cube with its corners cut off, and has 14 faces (so it is also an
example of a tetrakaidecahedron).
Some special polyhedra have grown their own names over the years, such as Miller's monster or
the Szilassi polyhedron.
[edit]Edges
Edges have two important characteristics (unless the polyhedron is complex):
An edge joins just two vertices.
An edge joins just two faces.
These two characteristics are dual to each other.
[edit]Euler characteristic
The Euler characteristic relates the number of vertices V, edges E, and faces F of a polyhedron:

For a simply connected polyhedron, = 2. For a detailed discussion, see Proofs and
Refutations by Imre Lakatos.
[edit]Orientability
Some polyhedra, such as all convex polyhedra, have two distinct sides to their surface, for example
one side can consistently be coloured black and the other white. We say that the figure isorientable.
But for some polyhedra this is not possible, and the figure is said to be non-orientable. All polyhedra
with odd-numbered Euler characteristic are non-orientable. A given figure with even < 2 may or
may not be orientable.
[edit]Vertex figure
For every vertex one can define a vertex figure, which describes the local structure of the figure
around the vertex. If the vertex figure is a regular polygon, then the vertex itself is said to be regular.
[edit]Duality

For every polyhedron there exists a dual polyhedron having:
faces in place of the original's vertices and vice versa,
the same number of edges
the same Euler characteristic and orientability
The dual of a convex polyhedron can be obtained by the process of polar reciprocation.
[edit]Volume
The volume of an orientable polyhedron having an identifiable centroid can be calculated
using Green's theorem:

by choosing the function

where (x,y,z) is the centroid of the surface enclosing the volume under consideration. As
we have,

Hence the volume can be calculated as:

where the normal of the surface pointing outwards is given by:

The final expression can be written as

where S is the surface area of the polyhedron.
[edit]Traditional polyhedra


A dodecahedron
In geometry, a polyhedron is traditionally a three-dimensional
shape that is made up of a finite number of polygonal faces which
are parts of planes; the faces meet in pairs along edges which
are straight-line segments, and the edges meet in points
called vertices. Cubes, prisms and pyramids are examples of
polyhedra. The polyhedron surrounds a bounded volume in three-
dimensional space; sometimes this interior volume is considered to
be part of the polyhedron, sometimes only the surface is
considered, and occasionally only the skeleton of edges.
A polyhedron is said to be convex if its surface (comprising its
faces, edges and vertices) does not intersect itself and the line
segment joining any two points of the polyhedron is contained in
the interior or surface.
[edit]Symmetrical polyhedra
Many of the most studied polyhedra are highly symmetrical.
Of course it is easy to distort such polyhedra so they are no longer symmetrical. But where a polyhedral
name is given, such as icosidodecahedron, the most symmetrical geometry is almost always implied,
unless otherwise stated.
Some of the most common names in particular are often used with "regular" in front or implied because
for each there are different types which have little in common except for having the same number of
faces. These are the triangular pyramid or tetrahedron, cube or
hexahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron:



Polyhedra of the highest symmetries have all of some kind of element - faces, edges and/or vertices,
within a single symmetry orbit. There are various classes of such polyhedra:
Isogonal or Vertex-transitive if all vertices are the same, in the sense that for any two vertices there
exists a symmetry of the polyhedron mapping the first isometrically onto the second.
Isotoxal or Edge-transitive if all edges are the same, in the sense that for any two edges there exists a
symmetry of the polyhedron mapping the first isometrically onto the second.
Isohedral or Face-transitive if all faces are the same, in the sense that for any two faces there exists a
symmetry of the polyhedron mapping the first isometrically onto the second.
Regular if it is vertex-transitive, edge-transitive and face-transitive (this implies that every face is the
same regular polygon; it also implies that every vertex is regular).
Quasi-regular if it is vertex-transitive and edge-transitive (and hence has regular faces) but not face-
transitive. A quasi-regular dual is face-transitive and edge-transitive (and hence every vertex is regular)
but not vertex-transitive.
Semi-regular if it is vertex-transitive but not edge-transitive, and every face is a regular polygon. (This is
one of several definitions of the term, depending on author. Some definitions overlap with the quasi-
regular class). A semi-regular dual is face-transitive but not vertex-transitive, and every vertex is regular.
Uniform if it is vertex-transitive and every face is a regular polygon, i.e. it is regular, quasi-regular or
semi-regular. A uniform dual is face-transitive and has regular vertices, but is not necessarily vertex-
transitive).
Noble if it is face-transitive and vertex-transitive (but not necessarily edge-transitive). The regular
polyhedra are also noble; they are the only noble uniform polyhedra.
A polyhedron can belong to the same overall symmetry group as one of higher symmetry, but will have
several groups of elements (for example faces) in different symmetry orbits.
[edit]Uniform polyhedra and their duals
Main article: Uniform polyhedron
Uniform polyhedra are vertex-transitive and every face is a regular polygon. They may be regular, quasi-
regular, or semi-regular, and may be convex or starry.
The uniform duals are face-transitive and every vertex figure is a regular polygon.
Face-transitivity of a polyhedron corresponds to vertex-transitivity of the dual and conversely, and edge-
transitivity of a polyhedron corresponds to edge-transitivity of the dual. In most duals of uniform
polyhedra, faces are irregular polygons. The regular polyhedra are an exception, because they are dual
to each other.
Each uniform polyhedron shares the same symmetry as its dual, with the symmetries of faces and
vertices simply swapped over. Because of this some authorities regard the duals as uniform too. But this
idea is not held widely: a polyhedron and its symmetries are not the same thing.
The uniform polyhedra and their duals are traditionally classified according to their degree of symmetry,
and whether they are convex or not.

Convex
uniform
Convex
uniform
dual
Star uniform
Star uniform
dual
Regular Platonic solids Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra
Quasiregul
ar
Archimede
an solids
Catalan
solids
(no special
name)
(no special
name)
Semiregul
ar
(no special
name)
(no special
name)
Prisms Dipyramids Star Prisms
Star Dipyramid
s
Antiprisms
Trapezohed
ra
Star Antipris
ms
Star Trapezohe
dra
[edit]Noble polyhedra
Main article: Noble polyhedron
A noble polyhedron is both isohedral (equal-faced) and isogonal (equal-cornered). Besides the regular
polyhedra, there are many other examples.
The dual of a noble polyhedron is also noble.
[edit]Symmetry groups
The polyhedral symmetry groups (using Schoenflies notation) are all point groups and include:
T - chiral tetrahedral symmetry; the rotation group for a regular tetrahedron; order 12.
T
d
- full tetrahedral symmetry; the symmetry group for a regular tetrahedron; order 24.
T
h
- pyritohedral symmetry; order 24. The symmetry of a pyritohedron.
O - chiral octahedral symmetry;the rotation group of the cube and octahedron; order 24.
O
h
- full octahedral symmetry; the symmetry group of the cube and octahedron; order 48.
I - chiral icosahedral symmetry; the rotation group of the icosahedron and the dodecahedron; order 60.
I
h
- full icosahedral symmetry; the symmetry group of the icosahedron and the dodecahedron; order
120.
C
nv
- n-fold pyramidal symmetry
D
nh
- n-fold prismatic symmetry
D
nv
- n-fold antiprismatic symmetry
Those with chiral symmetry do not have reflection symmetry and hence have two enantiomorphous forms
which are reflections of each other. The snub Archimedean polyhedra have this property.
[edit]Other polyhedra with regular faces
[edit]Equal regular faces
A few families of polyhedra, where every face is the same kind of polygon:
Deltahedra have equilateral triangles for faces.
With regard to polyhedra whose faces are all squares: if coplanar faces are not allowed, even if they are
disconnected, there is only the cube. Otherwise there is also the result of pasting six cubes to the sides of
one, all seven of the same size; it has 30 square faces (counting disconnected faces in the same plane
as separate). This can be extended in one, two, or three directions: we can consider the union of
arbitrarily many copies of these structures, obtained by translations of (expressed in cube sizes) (2,0,0),
(0,2,0), and/or (0,0,2), hence with each adjacent pair having one common cube. The result can be any
connected set of cubes with positions (a,b,c), with integers a,b,c of which at most one is even.
There is no special name for polyhedra whose faces are all equilateral pentagons or pentagrams. There
are infinitely many of these, but only one is convex: the dodecahedron. The rest are assembled by
(pasting) combinations of the regular polyhedra described earlier: the dodecahedron, the small stellated
dodecahedron, the great stellated dodecahedron and the great icosahedron.
There exists no polyhedron whose faces are all identical and are regular polygons with six or more sides
because the vertex of three regular hexagons defines a plane. (See infinite skew polyhedron for
exceptions with zig-zagging vertex figures.)
[edit]Deltahedra
A deltahedron (plural deltahedra) is a polyhedron whose faces are all equilateral triangles. There are
infinitely many deltahedra, but only eight of these are convex:
3 regular convex polyhedra (3 of the Platonic solids)
Tetrahedron
Octahedron
Icosahedron
5 non-uniform convex polyhedra (5 of the Johnson solids)
Triangular dipyramid
Pentagonal dipyramid
Snub disphenoid
Triaugmented triangular prism
Gyroelongated square dipyramid
[edit]J ohnson solids
Main article: Johnson solid
Norman Johnson sought which convex non-uniform polyhedra had regular faces. In 1966, he published a
list of 92 such solids, gave them names and numbers, and conjectured that there were no others. Victor
Zalgaller proved in 1969 that the list of these Johnson solids was complete.
[edit]Other important families of polyhedra
[edit]Pyramids
Main article: Pyramid (geometry)
Pyramids include some of the most time-honoured and famous of all polyhedra.
[edit]Stellations and facettings
Main article: Stellation

Stellation of a polyhedron is the process of extending the faces (within their planes) so that they meet to
form a new polyhedron.
It is the exact reciprocal to the process of facetting which is the process of removing parts of a
polyhedron without creating any new vertices.
[edit]Zonohedra
Main article: Zonohedron
A zonohedron is a convex polyhedron where every face is a polygon with inversion symmetry or,
equivalently, symmetry under rotations through 180.
[edit]Toroidal polyhedra
Main article: Toroidal polyhedron
A toroidal polyhedron is a polyhedron with an Euler characteristic of 0 or smaller, representing
a torus surface.
[edit]Compounds
Main article: Polyhedral compound
Polyhedral compounds are formed as compounds of two or more polyhedra.
These compounds often share the same vertices as other polyhedra and are often formed by stellation.
Some are listed in the list of Wenninger polyhedron models.
[edit]Orthogonal polyhedra
An orthogonal polyhedron is one all of whose faces meet at right angles, and all of whose edges are
parallel to axes of a Cartesian coordinate system. Aside from a rectangular box, orthogonal polyhedra are
nonconvex. They are the 3D analogs of 2D orthogonal polygons, also known as rectilinear polygons.
Orthogonal polyhedra are used in computational geometry, where their constrained structure has enabled
advances on problems unsolved for arbitrary polyhedra, for example, unfolding the surface of a
polyhedron to a polygonal net.
[edit]Generalisations of polyhedra
The name 'polyhedron' has come to be used for a variety of objects having similar structural properties to
traditional polyhedra.
[edit]Apeirohedra
A classical polyhedral surface comprises finite, bounded plane regions, joined in pairs along edges. If
such a surface extends indefinitely it is called an apeirohedron. Examples include:
Tilings or tessellations of the plane.
Sponge-like structures called infinite skew polyhedra.
See also: Apeirogon - infinite regular polygon: {}
[edit]Complex polyhedra
A complex polyhedron is one which is constructed in complex Hilbert 3-space. This space has six
dimensions: three real ones corresponding to ordinary space, with each accompanied by an imaginary
dimension. See for example Coxeter (1974).
[edit]Curved polyhedra
Some fields of study allow polyhedra to have curved faces and edges.
[edit]Spherical polyhedra
Main article: Spherical polyhedron
The surface of a sphere may be divided by line segments into bounded regions, to form a spherical
polyhedron. Much of the theory of symmetrical polyhedra is most conveniently derived in this way.
Spherical polyhedra have a long and respectable history:
The first known man-made polyhedra are spherical polyhedra carved in stone.
Poinsot used spherical polyhedra to discover the four regular star polyhedra.
Coxeter used them to enumerate all but one of the uniform polyhedra.
Some polyhedra, such as hosohedra and dihedra, exist only as spherical polyhedra and have no flat-
faced analogue.
[edit]Curved spacefilling polyhedra
Two important types are:
Bubbles in froths and foams, such as Weaire-Phelan bubbles.
Spacefilling forms used in architecture. See for example Pearce (1978).
[edit]General polyhedra
More recently mathematics has defined a polyhedron as a set in real affine (or Euclidean) space of any
dimensional n that has flat sides. It may alternatively be defined as the union of a finite number of convex
polyhedra, where a convex polyhedron is any set that is the intersection of a finite number of half-spaces.
It may be bounded or unbounded. In this meaning, a polytope is a bounded polyhedron.
Analytically, such a convex polyhedron is expressed as the solution set for a system of linear inequalities.
Defining polyhedra (and more generally polytopes) in this way provides a geometric perspective for
problems in Linear programming.
Many traditional polyhedral forms are general polyhedra. Other examples include:
A quadrant in the plane. For instance, the region of the cartesian plane consisting of all points above the
horizontal axis and to the right of the vertical axis: { ( x, y ) : x 0, y 0 }. Its sides are the two positive
axes.
An octant in Euclidean 3-space, { ( x, y, z ) : x 0, y 0, z 0 }.
A prism of infinite extent. For instance a doubly infinite square prism in 3-space, consisting of a square in
the xy-plane swept along the z-axis: { ( x, y, z ) : 0 x 1, 0 y 1 }.
Each cell in a Voronoi tessellation is a convex polyhedron. In the Voronoi tessellation of a set S, the
cell A corresponding to a point cS is bounded (hence a traditional polyhedron) when c lies in
the interior of the convex hull of S, and otherwise (when c lies on the boundary of the convex hull
of S) A is unbounded.
[edit]Hollow faced or skeletal polyhedra
It is not necessary to fill in the face of a figure before we can call it a polyhedron. For example Leonardo
da Vinci devised frame models of the regular solids, which he drew for Pacioli's book Divina Proportione.
In modern times, Branko Grnbaum (1994) made a special study of this class of polyhedra, in which he
developed an early idea of abstract polyhedra. He defined a face as a cyclically ordered set of vertices,
and allowed faces to be skew as well as planar.
[edit]Non-geometric polyhedra
Various mathematical constructs have been found to have properties also present in traditional
polyhedra.
[edit]Topological polyhedra
A topological polytope is a topological space given along with a specific decomposition into shapes that
are topologically equivalent to convex polytopes and that are attached to each other in a regular way.
Such a figure is called simplicial if each of its regions is a simplex, i.e. in an n-dimensional space each
region has n+1 vertices. The dual of a simplicial polytope is called simple. Similarly, a widely studied class
of polytopes (polyhedra) is that of cubical polyhedra, when the basic building block is an n-dimensional
cube.
[edit]Abstract polyhedra
An abstract polyhedron is a partially ordered set (poset) of elements whose partial ordering obeys
certain rules. Theories differ in detail, but essentially the elements of the set correspond to the body,
faces, edges and vertices of the polyhedron. The empty set corresponds to the null polytope, or nullitope,
which has a dimensionality of 1. These posets belong to the larger family of abstract polytopes in any
number of dimensions.
[edit]Polyhedra as graphs
Any polyhedron gives rise to a graph, or skeleton, with corresponding vertices and edges. Thus graph
terminology and properties can be applied to polyhedra. For example:
Due to Steinitz theorem convex polyhedra are in one-to-one correspondence with 3-connected planar
graphs.
The tetrahedron gives rise to a complete graph (K
4
). It is the only polyhedron to do so.
The octahedron gives rise to a strongly regular graph, because adjacent vertices always have two
common neighbors, and non-adjacent vertices have four.
The Archimedean solids give rise to regular graphs: 7 of the Archimedean solids are of degree 3, 4 of
degree 4, and the remaining 2 are chiral pairs of degree 5.
[edit]History
[edit]Prehistory
Stones carved in shapes showing the symmetries of various polyhedra have been found in Scotland and
may be as much a 4,000 years old. These stones show not only the form of various symmetrical
polyehdra, but also the relations of duality amongst some of them (that is, that the centres of the faces of
the cube gives the vertices of an octahedron, and so on). Examples of these stones are on display in
the John Evans room of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University. It is impossible to know why these
objects were made, or how the sculptor gained the inspiration for them.
Other polyhedra have of course made their mark in architecture - cubes and cuboids being obvious
examples, with the earliest four-sided pyramids of ancient Egypt also dating from the Stone Age.
The Etruscans preceded the Greeks in their awareness of at least some of the regular polyhedra, as
evidenced by the discovery near Padua (in Northern Italy) in the late 1800s of a dodecahedron made
of soapstone, and dating back more than 2,500 years (Lindemann, 1987). Pyritohedric crystals are found
in northern Italy
[citation needed]
.
[edit]Greeks
The earliest known written records of these shapes come from Classical Greek authors, who also gave
the first known mathematical description of them. The earlier Greeks were interested primarily in
the convex regular polyhedra, which came to be known as the Platonic solids. Pythagoras knew at least
three of them, and Theaetetus (circa 417 B. C.) described all five. Eventually, Euclid described their
construction in his Elements. Later, Archimedes expanded his study to the convex uniform
polyhedra which now bear his name. His original work is lost and his solids come down to us
throughPappus.
[edit]Chinese and Muslims
By 236 AD, in China Liu Hui was describing the dissection of the cube into its characteristic tetrahedron
(orthoscheme) and related solids, using assemblages of these solids as the basis for calculating volumes
of earth to be moved during engineering excavations.
After the end of the Classical era, Islamic scholars continued to take the Greek knowledge forward. The
ninth century scholar Thabit ibn Qurra gave formulae for calculating the volumes of polyhedra such as
truncated pyramids. Then in the tenth century Abu'l Wafa described the convex regular and quasiregular
spherical polyhedra.
[edit]Renaissance
As with other areas of Greek thought maintained and enhanced by Islamic scholars, Western interest in
polyhedra revived during the Italian Renaissance. Artists constructed skeletal polyhedra, depicting them
from life as a part of their investigations into perspective. Several appear in marquetry panels of the
period. Piero della Francesca gave the first written description of direct geometrical construction of such
perspective views of polyhedra. Leonardo da Vinci made skeletal models of several polyhedra and drew
illustrations of them for a book by Pacioli. A painting by an anonymous artist of Pacioli and a pupli depicts
a glass rhombicuboctahedron half-filled with water.
As the Renaissance spread beyond Italy, later artists such as Wenzel Jamnitzer, Drer and others also
depicted polyhedra of various kinds, many of them novel, in imaginative etchings.
[edit]Star polyhedra
For almost 2,000 years, the concept of a polyhedron as a convex solid had remained as developed by the
ancient Greek mathematicians.
During the Renaissance star forms were discovered. A marble tarsia in the floor of St. Mark's Basilica,
Venice, depicts a stellated dodecahedron. Artists such as Wenzel Jamnitzer delighted in depicting novel
star-like forms of increasing complexity.
Johannes Kepler realised that star polygons, typically pentagrams, could be used to build star polyhedra.
Some of these star polyhedra may have been discovered before Kepler's time, but he was the first to
recognise that they could be considered "regular" if one removed the restriction that regular polytopes be
convex. Later, Louis Poinsot realised that star vertex figures (circuits around each corner) can also be
used, and discovered the remaining two regular star polyhedra. Cauchy proved Poinsot's list complete,
and Cayley gave them their accepted English names: (Kepler's) the small stellated
dodecahedron and great stellated dodecahedron, and (Poinsot's) the great icosahedron and great
dodecahedron. Collectively they are called the Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra.
The Kepler-Poinsot polyhedra may be constructed from the Platonic solids by a process called stellation.
Most stellations are not regular. The study of stellations of the Platonic solids was given a big push by H.
S. M. Coxeter and others in 1938, with the now famous paper The 59 icosahedra. This work has recently
been re-published (Coxeter, 1999).
The reciprocal process to stellation is called facetting (or faceting). Every stellation of one polytope
is dual, or reciprocal, to some facetting of the dual polytope. The regular star polyhedra can also be
obtained by facetting the Platonic solids. Bridge 1974 listed the simpler facettings of the dodecahedron,
and reciprocated them to discover a stellation of the icosahedron that was missing from the famous "59".
More have been discovered since, and the story is not yet ended.
See also:
Regular polyhedron: History
Regular polytope: History of discovery.
[edit]Polyhedra in nature
For natural occurrences of regular polyhedra, see Regular polyhedron: Regular polyhedra in nature.
Irregular polyhedra appear in nature as crystals.

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