Body & Beauty / Compounds / Rue oil (Ruta graveolens)

Rue oil (Ruta graveolens) on your skin: a safety profile

High risk

(People-specific data is limited; this page draws from human adult context.) Phototoxic (furanocoumarins — psoralen, bergapten); abortifacient; hepatotoxic; severe phytophotodermatitis from skin contact + sun; IFRA prohibited in leave-on products

What is rue oil (ruta graveolens)?

CAS number
8014-29-7

Risk for people

High risk

Phototoxic (furanocoumarins — psoralen, bergapten); abortifacient; hepatotoxic; severe phytophotodermatitis from skin contact + sun; IFRA prohibited in leave-on products

Regulatory consensus

1 regulatory bodyhas classified Rue oil (Ruta graveolens).

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
EDC Assessment—Suspected endocrine disruptor

Regulators apply different standards of evidence — animal-data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds — which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. The disagreement is the data.

Where you encounter rue oil (ruta graveolens)

  • Personal Care — essential oil (rue)

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Rue oil (Ruta graveolens):

  • Avoidance (no chemical substitute)
    Trade-offs: Direct chemical substitution requires verification that the replacement does not introduce new hazards (regrettable substitution). Conduct full hazard assessment of proposed alternative before adoption.
    Relative cost: 1.2-2×

Frequently asked questions

What products contain rue oil (ruta graveolens)?

Rue oil (Ruta graveolens) appears in: essential oil (rue) (Personal care).

See Rue oil (Ruta graveolens) in the body app

Look up products containing rue oil (ruta graveolens), compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

Open in body View raw API data

Sources (1)
  1. PubChem Compound Database (2026) — database

Reference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific data; not a substitute for veterinary, medical, legal, or regulatory advice. Why we built ALETHEIA →