Body & Beauty / Compounds / Tansy oil (Tanacetum vulgare)

Tansy oil (Tanacetum vulgare) on your skin: a safety profile

Severe risk

(People-specific data is limited; this page draws from human adult context.) High thujone content (up to 70%); neurotoxic — seizures, convulsions; potentially lethal; IFRA prohibited; thujone acts as GABA-A antagonist

What is tansy oil (tanacetum vulgare)?

Also known as: tansy oil, oil of tansy.

CAS number
8016-87-3

Risk for people

Severe risk

High thujone content (up to 70%); neurotoxic — seizures, convulsions; potentially lethal; IFRA prohibited; thujone acts as GABA-A antagonist

Regulatory consensus

1 regulatory bodyhas classified Tansy oil (Tanacetum vulgare).

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 tansy oil (tanacetum vulgare)

  • Personal Care — essential oil (historical — largely discontinued)

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Tansy oil (Tanacetum vulgare):

  • 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 tansy oil (tanacetum vulgare)?

Tansy oil (Tanacetum vulgare) appears in: essential oil (historical — largely discontinued) (Personal care).

See Tansy oil (Tanacetum vulgare) in the body app

Look up products containing tansy oil (tanacetum vulgare), 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 →