EU Proposes Banning Prostaglandins in Cosmetics: What It Means for Lash Serums
Earlier this summer, the European Commission proposed a new rule that would prohibit prostaglandins and their analogues, the ingredient class behind many "dramatic growth" lash serums, in cosmetics sold across the EU. It's part of a broader update to EU cosmetics rules that periodically adds newly flagged ingredients to the restricted list, alongside a couple of unrelated hair dyes and UV filters caught in the same update.
If adopted, the rule wouldn't take effect right away. The draft includes a transition period for brands to comply, expected to land sometime in 2027. Public comments remain open through September 6, 2026, which is the next real checkpoint to watch, not a ban date.
Why the EU Is Looking at This Now
The proposal follows a safety review published earlier this year by the EU's scientific safety committee, which looked at three prostaglandin compounds used in lash and brow cosmetics. Their conclusion was direct: none of the three could be considered safe for cosmetic use promoting eyelash and eyebrow growth, citing strong pharmacological activity even at low doses and not enough data to rule out reproductive and developmental risks, a particular concern given that most users are women of childbearing age.
That review is the scientific basis for the proposal. It doesn't mean every lash serum containing a prostaglandin uses one of these three specific compounds, but it does mean regulators now have a documented safety gap they're moving to close.
Worth flagging: the review evaluated these three compounds specifically, but the proposed rule itself is worded to cover prostaglandins and their analogues as a category, not just these three by name. That means the list of specifically flagged compounds could grow as more are reviewed. Three is where things stand today, not necessarily where they stay.
Does This Affect Lash Brands Outside the EU?
Not directly, and not yet. This is EU cosmetics law in progress. It has no legal force in the US, UK, Canada, or anywhere else, and it isn't an FDA action of any kind.
That said, "not directly" isn't the same as "irrelevant." A few reasons brands outside the EU should still pay attention:
Retailers and marketplaces often adopt EU restricted-substance lists as their own baseline compliance standard globally, regardless of where a product is sold, so a formula flagged in the EU can become harder to list even in unaffected markets.
Ingredient suppliers frequently serve multiple regions from the same production line. If a supplier stops manufacturing a prostaglandin compound for the EU market, brands elsewhere sourcing from that same supplier may lose access to it too.
Regulatory decisions in one major market tend to shape consumer expectations everywhere. Once "prostaglandin-free" becomes a headline claim in EU cosmetics coverage, US shoppers start asking the same question of US brands, whether or not any US rule has changed.
The US Legal Backdrop
Separately, and worth keeping distinct from the EU regulatory story, a US class action settlement involving a lash and brow serum manufacturer received final approval earlier this year. The multi-million dollar settlement resolved claims that the company failed to adequately disclose health risks associated with one of the same prostaglandin compounds now flagged in the EU review. Reported concerns in the lawsuit included eyelid inflammation, gland dysfunction, chronic dry eye, redness, and serious ocular irritation.
We've kept the manufacturer and product names out of this piece deliberately. Not because they're hard to find (a quick search on the settlement or the recall turns up both within seconds) but because naming a competitor's brand in a story about ingredient safety isn't a call we're comfortable making unprompted. The facts hold up without it.
The overlap is worth noting: the same compound named in a US lawsuit is now the subject of an EU safety review recommending against its use. Two independent processes, on two continents, converging on the same ingredient.
What About the Product Recall and the Ingredient Survey?
Two more data points have circulated alongside the EU news, and both deserve the same precision. Earlier this summer, one German-market lash serum containing a prostaglandin compound was withdrawn from sale and destroyed under the EU's rapid product-safety alert system. That action applied to a single named product, not to prostaglandin lash serums as a class.
Separately, a peer-reviewed survey published around the same time reportedly found a prostaglandin compound in roughly 30% of a small product sample. That figure describes one specific sample set. It shouldn't be read as "30% of lash serums on the market," since the sample wasn't necessarily representative of the global category.
What This Means for Lash Brands
If the proposal is adopted as written, brands selling into the EU with a prostaglandin compound in their formula will eventually need to reformulate or exit the market, on whatever compliance timeline the final rule sets. Brands outside the EU aren't bound by it, but the direction of travel is clear: prostaglandin-free is moving from a marketing angle to something closer to a baseline expectation, and brands still relying on the ingredient should expect more label scrutiny, not less, over the next year regardless of where they sell.
What This Means for You
If you use a lash serum today, none of this changes anything about your current product overnight, nothing here is enacted yet. What it does confirm is that the ingredient question is worth asking. Check whether your serum lists a prostaglandin analogue on the label.
It's also exactly the reasoning behind why we built Root 1. When we started formulating, we made a deliberate call to leave prostaglandins out entirely and build around peptides, botanicals, and vitamins instead, precisely because of the kind of safety concern and uncertainty that this news is now surfacing in public. Growing your lashes shouldn't come with a wait-and-see on the ingredient label.
The Bottom Line
The EU has proposed, not enacted, a prohibition on prostaglandins and their analogues in cosmetics, backed by a safety review of three named compounds. It has no direct legal effect in the US today, but it lands alongside a separate US settlement involving one of the same compounds, and it adds to a trend that's been building for a while: prostaglandin-free formulas are increasingly the default expectation, not the alternative. It's the same reasoning we built Root 1 around from day one.
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