Study Design on the Presence of Metals in Moisturisers, and Compliance with Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union, on Cosmetic Products

Abstract

Metals are present in cosmetics due to deliberate addition by the manufacturers, contamination of raw materials, and/or contamination during their manufacture or storage. The objective of this work was to explore the metal content in the most-consumed moisturising creams on the Spanish market, to verify their degree of compliance with Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union, regarding the presence of metals in cosmetics. The moisturisers were digested (microwave-assisted acid digestion) and analysed by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), for metal assessment. The ICP-MS measurements were successfully validated (RSDs lower than 5% and analytical recoveries within the 91–110% range). Metals banned in cosmetics were found at very low concentrations in some of the moisturisers, as inevitable traces of pollutants. This was the case with beryllium (found in only two samples, at concentrations lower than 0.10 µg g−1), cadmium (found at 0.075 µg g−1 in one sample), mercury (found in four samples at concentrations within the 0.10–0.18 µg g−1 range), and lead (also found in four samples at concentrations from 0.03 to 0.44 µg g−1). Furthermore, nickel (0.16–0.56 µg g−1, six samples), chromium (0.09–0.30 µg g−1, three samples), and cobalt (lower than 0.13 µg g−1, two samples) were also found in the analysed creams.