Determination of toxic heavy metals in selected cosmetics samples marketed in Ethiopia

Abstract

Nowadays people in the world are using various types of cosmetics for different purposes. Heavy metal impurities are common in cosmetic products due to their natural abundance. The presence of variety of heavy metals in general and the toxic ones in particular in cosmetics has raised several health concerns. It is known that toxic compounds and elements are not added, as ingredients may still be present in cosmetics because of ingredient contamination or reaction by-products. As a result, they should be kept to a minimum whenever technically feasible. Additionally, analysis of the levels of toxic heavy metal present in the marketed cosmetic products is equally important to minimize exposure to those chemicals. In this study, we determined the levels of selected toxic heavy metals Lead, Cadmium, Nickel and Chromium in five different types of cosmetic products like facial creams, face powders, lotions, hair oils, and lipsticks were collected from different cosmetic shops of Dessie town. The levels of these toxic heavy metals were determined by Flame Atomic Absorption spectroscopy after preparing the samples using standard acid digestion method. From the result Lead, Cadmium, Nickel and Chromium were detected in the ranges of 0.39-4.68 mg/kg, 1.03-4.01 mg/kg, 1.52-12.03 mg/kg and 0.96-13.36 mg/kg, respectively in all types of cosmetic samples. The one-way ANOVA Analysis between the three classes of each cosmetic samples showed that some of the samples were statistically different at (P<0.05) in their heavy metal concentration. The present study also showed that the cosmetics that are purchased in Dessie town are contaminated with toxic metals.