Heavy Metals in Cosmetics: The Notorious Daredevils and Burning Health Issues

Abdul Kader Mohiuddin

doi:10.34297/ajbsr.2019.04.000829

Abstract

Personal care products and facial cosmetics are commonly used by millions of consumers on a daily basis. Direct application of cosmetics on human skin makes it vulnerable to a wide variety of ingredients. Despite the protecting role of skin against exogenous contaminants, some of the ingredients in cosmetic products are able to penetrate the skin and to produce systemic exposure. Consumers’ knowledge of the potential risks of the frequent application of cosmetic products should be improved. While regulations exist in most of the high-income countries, in low income countries there is a lack of similar standards. In most countries for which these legal regulations have been identified, restrictions on the permissible level of heavy metals are strict. There is a need for enforcement of existing rules, and rigorous assessment of the effectiveness of these regulations. The occurrence of metals in cosmetic products is of concern for three principal reasons:

Highlights

Cosmetics and personal care products are ubiquitous [1,2,3]
The US researchers identified some 12500 industrial chemicals used as cosmetic ingredients, includes carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxics, endocrine disruptors, plasticizers, degreasers, and surfactants [4,5,6]
The US FDA estimated 12,500 chemicals used in cosmetics, 20% of them are safe according to Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) review, only 11 of them are banned in US but more than 1300 are banned or restricted in the EU [7,8,9]

Summary

Introduction

Cosmetics and personal care products are ubiquitous [1,2,3]. The US researchers identified some 12500 industrial chemicals used as cosmetic ingredients, includes carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxics, endocrine disruptors, plasticizers, degreasers, and surfactants [4,5,6]. Heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and nickel, as well as aluminum, classified as a light metal, are detected in various types of cosmetics (color cosmetics, face and body care products, hair cosmetics, herbal cosmetics, etc.) Alam et al [12] says many cosmetic products contain heavy metals as ingredients or impurities [12].

Results

Conclusion