Determination of Lead Content in Red Colored Lipsticks from Mandalay Market by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer

Abstract

Red colored lipstick is the most widely used cosmetic product. Although lipstick gives a lot of social, psychological and therapeutic benefits, it may harm the consumers. Because some lipsticks contain a considerable amount of heavy metal especially lead. Lead is being used in lipstick mainly for the pigments required to obtain needed colors. Lead accumulates in the body over time and lead-containing lipstick applied several times a day, every day, combined with lead in water and other sources, could add up to significant exposure levels. Therefore, this study was aimed to determine lead content in red colored lipsticks from market. This study was laboratorybased, analytical study by using 25 lipstick samples. Red colored lipsticks were bought from Mandalay Market by random sampling procedure and they were completely coded to avoid the bias. Then, lead content in coded samples was determined by Flame AAS according to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guideline. Lead contents of 88% of the lipsticks samples were more than specified limit (20 ppm) of Food and Drug Administration, United States. All of them, lead content was highest in counterfeit lipsticks group. Among the tested lipstick samples, lipstick with lowest lead content was LE-RL 01 (15.74 ppm) and the lipstick with highest lead content was CF-RL 01(60.09 ppm). In conclusion, lead contents of red colored lipsticks (22 out of 25) from market samples were higher than allowable limit (20 ppm).