Is mercury banned in cosmetics?
Yes, in the EU: Annex II lists mercury as a prohibited substance (entry 221), with this printed note: Mercury and its compounds, except those special cases included in Annex V. California, the EU and FDA's named list, read 23 October 2026, with EWG Skin Deep's score.
SlipperSkin finding
Read on 23 October 2026, mercury is prohibited in the EU (Annex II) and banned in California and named on FDA’s page; EWG Skin Deep has no exact-name page for it.
Is mercury banned in cosmetics?
Yes, in the EU: Annex II lists mercury as a prohibited substance (entry 221), with this printed note: Mercury and its compounds, except those special cases included in Annex V. California bans it from 1 January 2025 (list (a)(7)). FDA's named list includes it: limited to eye-area products at no more than 65 parts per million of mercury, and only if no other effective and safe preservative is available (21 CFR 700.13). EWG Skin Deep has no exact-name page for it.
What does the EU list say about mercury?
Annex II is the EU's list of prohibited substances. The entries for mercury are in the table below, as printed in the regulation consolidated on 1 May 2026.
| Where | Annex | Cap, threshold and product type | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annex II, entry 221 as printed: Mercury and its compounds, except those special cases included in Annex V | Prohibited substances | prohibited all cosmetic products | No condition printed in the entry. |
What does FDA's page say about mercury?
Mercury compounds is one of the 11 entries on FDA’s prohibited and restricted ingredients page (content current as of 02/25/2022): limited to eye-area products at no more than 65 parts per million of mercury, and only if no other effective and safe preservative is available (21 CFR 700.13).
Is mercury on California's banned list?
Yes. California's Health and Safety Code section 108980 bans mercury from 1 January 2025 (list (a)(7)), when intentionally added.
What does EWG Skin Deep say about mercury?
EWG Skin Deep's search returned no exact-name page for mercury on 23 October 2026, so we show none rather than guess. That is not a statement that it is absent from EWG.
Where is this read from?
- EU Cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009, consolidated 1 May 2026 (EUR-Lex)
- California Health and Safety Code section 108980
- FDA: prohibited and restricted ingredients in cosmetics
- PubChem: compound 23931 (CAS 7439-97-6)
More ingredient files: Paraformaldehyde · Methylene glycol · Quaternium-15 · all 66 ingredient files
Method: California's section 108980 and the EU's annexes were read in Chrome on 23 October 2026; EU lookups are by CAS number (7439-97-6) across Annexes II, III, V and VI; EWG's page was kept only if its name matched exactly; the PubChem link is the compound the CAS number resolves to. Statutes change and EWG revises pages, nothing here is a safety verdict, and an ingredient that is not on a list is not endorsed.