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. 2020 Jul;28(7):779-790.
doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2020.05.006. Epub 2020 May 29.

Evaluation of heavy metals in cosmetic products and their health risk assessment

Hamna Arshad  1 , Moniba Zahid Mehmood  1 , Munir Hussain Shah  2 , Arshad Mehmood Abbasi  1
Affiliations

Evaluation of heavy metals in cosmetic products and their health risk assessment

Hamna Arshad et al. Saudi Pharm J. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

Heavy metals' contamination in cosmetic products is a serious threat. Present study was conducted to evaluate the concentrations of heavy metals (HMs) in various brands of cosmetic products with special emphasis on their health risk assessment. Five heavy metals including Cd, Cr, Fe, Ni and Pb were quantified in different brands of lotions, foundations, whitening creams, lipsticks, hair dyes and sunblock creams using atomic absorption spectrometry. Risk to the consumer's health was determined using systemic exposure dosage (SED), margin of safety (MoS), hazard quotient (HQ), hazard index (HI) and lifetime cancer risk (LCR). On comparative basis, different brands of sunblock creams depicted highest concentration of Ni, Pb and Cr (7.99 ± 0.36, 6.37 ± 0.05 and 0.43 ± 0.01 mg/kg, respectively), whereas lipsticks had elevated levels of Fe at 12.0 ± 1.8 mg/kg, and Cd was maximum in lotions (0.26 ± 0.02 mg/kg). Multivariate analysis revealed strong associations among Cr, Ni and Pb, while Cd and Fe showed disparity in distribution and sources of contamination. MoS, HQ and HI values were within the permissible limit apart from for lotions and sunblock creams, while LCR value was higher than the permissible limit in all cosmetic products except lipsticks. Regular use of these products can cause serious threat to human health, particularly skin cancer on long time exposure. Therefore, continuous monitoring of cosmetic products, particularly with reference to HMs adulteration should be adopted to ensure the human safety and security.

Keywords: Cosmetics; HI; HQ; Health risk; Heavy metal; LCR; MoS; Pakistan.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(a-f). Average concentration of HMs (mg/Kg) in cosmetic products.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Hierarchal cluster analysis of HMs in different categories of cosmetic products.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Principle component analysis of HMs in cosmetic products.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
HQ and HI values of cosmetic products at 50% (A) and 100% (B) bio-accessibility levels.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
LCR of cosmetic products at 50% (A) and 100% (B) bio-accessibility levels.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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