Almugren and colleagues measured several elements in four coded talcum baby powders by ICP-MS and reported the results in ppb. Nickel ranged from 2082.0 to 3102.0 ppb across the four codes. Arsenic in the four cells ranged from 63.0 to 672.6 ppb. The arsenic result is total arsenic. It is not inorganic arsenic. Chromium is total chromium, not chromium(VI).
Key numbers
Table cells, ppb, in code order PB, JB, CB, ZB. Uncertainties are the printed standard deviations. Sample names are codes only.
| Element | PB | JB | CB | ZB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ni | 2082.0 ± 44.5 | 3102.0 ± 22.2 | 2207.0 ± 68.1 | 3080.0 ± 76.8 |
| tAs | 672.6 ± 9.8 | 94.5 ± 8.7 | 63.0 ± 6.1 | 82.9 ± 12.3 |
| Pb | 2585.0 ± 26.4 | 1944.0 ± 25.8 | 2179.0 ± 41.7 | 2173.0 ± 67.3 |
| Cd | 4.5 ± 0.7 | 4.5 ± 0.5 | 3.4 ± 0.7 | 4.7 ± 0.4 |
| Cu | 208.6 ± 10.9 | 175.2 ± 8.3 | 313.2 ± 18.5 | 208.3 ± 11.5 |
| Co | 41.7 ± 4.5 | 34.7 ± 2.9 | 35.3 ± 5.3 | 37.4 ± 7.0 |
| Cr | 4883.0 ± 79.44 | 5846.0 ± 85.6 | 5624.0 ± 117.8 | 5250 ± 135.1 |
The ZB chromium uncertainty is split across two lines in the text layer (5250 ± on one line, 135.1 on the next). It is recorded as a layout reconstruction and flagged.
The prose range for arsenic, 63.0 to 672.6 ppb, matches the four cells. The stated average of 307.8 ppb does not equal the arithmetic mean of those four cells (228.25 ppb). The average is kept as the authors’ sentence and is not used as a headline.
The authors state that a Malaysian authority and the ASEAN Cosmetic Scientific Body permit 5 ppm arsenic as an impurity, and they attribute a 3 ppm arsenic figure to the US FDA. Those sentences are citations by the authors. They are not verified here against the primary legal instruments, and they are not measurements.
Methods (brief)
ICP-MS on four commercial talcum baby powders. The paper also reports naturally occurring radioactive material. Those activity concentrations are outside the metal ledger on this page. Copper and cobalt are recorded because the same table prints them. They are not treated as substitutes for the certification metals.
Evidence fitness
The four-powder table supports total-metal occurrence in talcum baby powder. It does not support speciation, and it does not support treating the authors’ FDA attribution as an FDA instrument.
Limitations
n = 4. The ZB chromium uncertainty is line-wrapped. The printed arsenic average does not match the four cells. Brand names that appear in the paper are omitted. Codes PB, JB, CB, and ZB are the public identifiers.
Related evidence
Update history
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