Terpineol

What it is

Terpineol is a terpene alcohol with a lilac scent, present in pine, cajuput and tea tree oils among many others and also manufactured synthetically on a large scale. Annex III entry 343, inserted by Regulation (EU) 2023/1545, covers the isomer mixture - alpha-, beta- and gamma-terpineol - under the single label name Terpineol. The duty is declaration only: unlike pinene, the entry sets neither a maximum concentration nor a peroxide value.

How it shows up on a label

What it does well

• Supplies a lilac note, from an oil or from synthesis

  It is used for scent. Because a large share of cosmetic terpineol is manufactured rather than distilled, a mask can declare it while containing no essential oil at all.

  Strong evidence

Worth knowing

• Declared as part of a group, on the weakest human evidence in that group

  SCCS/1459/11 lists terpineol among established contact allergens in humans, but at the lowest grade it uses, and its own summary is largely negative: a RIFM review citing negative human induction studies alongside one clinical series and two small negative studies, and the Frosch 1995 dose-finding pilot in which 100 consecutive patients in Belfast were tested at 1% and 5% in petrolatum with no positive reactions observed.

  Matters most toAnyone reading a declaration as a verdict on a substance rather than a disclosure duty.

Where the EU stands