Baby Safety / Compounds / Neral

Is Neral safe for babies and kids?

Context-dependent for kids

(Babies-specific data is limited; this page draws from human pregnant context.) Prenatal exposure to Neral through personal care products may affect fetal development. Some fragrance chemicals are sensitizers or endocrine-active compounds with transplacental transfer.

What is neral?

Also known as: cis-Citral, Citral b, (2Z)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienal, (Z)-Citral.

CAS number
106-26-3
Molecular formula
C10H16O
Molecular weight
152.23 g/mol
SMILES
CC(=CCCC(=CC=O)C)C
PubChem CID
643779

Risk for babies

Context-dependent

Prenatal exposure to Neral through personal care products may affect fetal development. Some fragrance chemicals are sensitizers or endocrine-active compounds with transplacental transfer.

No specific reproductive toxicity data identified, but pregnancy-specific safety data is limited for most chemicals. Precautionary minimization of exposure is recommended.

What to do: Minimize exposure during pregnancy and lactation. Consult healthcare provider regarding specific risks. Consider alternative products with lower hazard profiles.

Risk for pregnant and nursing people

Context-dependent

Prenatal exposure to Neral through personal care products may affect fetal development. Some fragrance chemicals are sensitizers or endocrine-active compounds with transplacental transfer.

No specific reproductive toxicity data identified, but pregnancy-specific safety data is limited for most chemicals. Precautionary minimization of exposure is recommended.

What to do: Minimize exposure during pregnancy and lactation. Consult healthcare provider regarding specific risks. Consider alternative products with lower hazard profiles.

Regulatory consensus

1 regulatory bodyhas classified Neral.

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
Unknown——

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 kids encounter neral

  • Personal Care — perfume, soap, cosmetics
  • Consumer Products — cleaning products, candles

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Neral:

  • Lower-sensitization structural analog; Unscented formulation
    Trade-offs: Eliminates allergen risk entirely; consumer acceptance varies (some associate scent with cleanliness/efficacy); growing market segment; regulatory advantage in EU (no IFRA compliance needed).
    Relative cost: 1.2-2×

Frequently asked questions

What products contain neral?

Neral appears in: perfume (Personal care); soap (Personal care); cleaning products (Consumer products); candles (Consumer products).

See Neral in the baby app

Look up products containing neral, compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

Open in baby View raw API data

Sources (1)
  1. PubChem (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 →