Hydroquinone: CIR Safety Assessment Summary
CIR safety assessment summary for Hydroquinone: ingredients reviewed, panel verdict, use concentration context, conditions, and source citation.
Hydroquinone appears in a CIR safety assessment covering Hydroquinone, p-hydroxyanisole. The panel verdict for the report is Safe with restrictions. The CIR Expert Panel concluded that hydroquinone is safe at concentrations of ≤ 1% for cosmetic formulations designed for discontinuous, brief use followed by rinsing from the skin and hair. Hydroquinone is safe for use in nail adhesives and in artificial nail coatings, as a polymerization inhibitor, that are cured by LED light.
| Field | CIR value |
|---|---|
| Primary ingredient | Hydroquinone |
| CIR verdict | Safe with restrictions |
| Report type | Final Amended Report |
| Date | January 13, 2015 |
| CAS numbers | 123-31-9 |
| Use concentration context | |
| Conditions or carve-outs |
Ingredients Reviewed
The review scope matters because CIR conclusions often apply to an ingredient family rather than a single INCI name. In this report, the ingredient list includes Hydroquinone, p-hydroxyanisole.
Safety Conclusion
The conclusion for Hydroquinone should be read as a CIR panel conclusion, not a regulatory limit. CIR assessments summarize expert-panel safety determinations for cosmetic use, while legal status still depends on the jurisdiction and product category.
For use levels, the report gives this concentration context: The CIR Expert Panel concluded that hydroquinone is safe at concentrations of ≤ 1% for cosmetic formulations designed for discontinuous, brief use followed by rinsing from the skin and hair.. That language is the safe-use context shown for this page.
Conditions
Safe at concentrations of ≤ 1% for cosmetic formulations designed for discontinuous, brief use followed by rinsing from the skin and hair; Unsafe for use in other leave-on cosmetic products
Formulation Reading
For formula review, begin with the exact INCI identity and the ingredient group covered by the CIR assessment. If the material is Hydroquinone, the relevant comparison is whether the intended use aligns with the practices, concentration ranges, and conditions described in the CIR source.
The ingredient hub at Hydroquinone should carry the substance-level profile. This page is the report-level summary, keeping the conclusion, ingredient scope, and use-context language attached to the CIR source rather than treating the conclusion as a universal permission.
Why This Page Exists
CIR reviews are long documents, and the practical answer is usually buried in the conclusion and the table of current practices. This summary keeps those CIR facts in one indexable page for Hydroquinone, with source details retained at the bottom for audit.
Source
- CIR report: Amended Safety Assessment of Hydroquinone as Used in Cosmetics
- CIR source file: FR647.pdf
- Extraction JSON: Source documentation archived.
- Conclusion page in CIR extraction: 11