A survey of phthalate esters in consumer cosmetic products

Abstract

Certain phthalate esters have been shown to cause reproductive toxicity in animal models. For this reason, the FDA has been monitoring the use of phthalate esters in cosmetics. In this study, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a limited survey of 84 adult-use and baby-care cosmetic products for the presence of five phthalate esters: dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) (Figure 1). The analytes were extracted from a cosmetic product/Celite mixture with hexane, and the extract was then analyzed using reversed-phase high-performance chromatography (HPLC) on an instrument equipped with an ultraviolet radiation (UV) detector set at 230 nm. The analytes were separated on a Partisil octadecylsilane (ODS)-3 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm I.D., 5μm). The mobile phase consisted of a mixture of 50% water, 34% acetonitrile, 13% 2-propanol, and 3% methanol that was changed linearly (35 minutes) to 15% water, 55% acetonitrile, 25% 2-propanol, and 5% methanol and held for an additional ten minutes. Spiked recoveries in antiperspirant and nail color ranged from 88% to 104%. Thirty-one of the 60 adult-use cosmetic products were found to contain at least one phthalate ester. Twenty products contained DEP and 11 nail products contained DBP. Concentrations of DBP ranged from 123 μg/g to 62,607 μg/g. Concentrations of DEP ranged from 80 μg/g to 36,006 μg/g. Five of the 24 baby-care products contained DEP at concentrations ranging from 10 μg/g to 274 μg/g.