Arshad et al. 2020 — Cd, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb in 63 cosmetic products, Pakistan

This study quantifies cadmium, chromium, iron, nickel, and lead in 63 brand-level cosmetic products (in triplicate, 189 measurements total) from three Pakistani markets across six product categories: lotions, foundations, whitening creams, lipsticks, hair dyes, and sunblock creams. Sunblock creams carry the highest Ni, Pb, and Cr concentrations (7.99±0.36, 6.37±0.05, 0.43±0.01 mg/kg respectively); lipsticks carry the highest Fe (12.0±1.8 mg/kg); lotions carry the highest Cd (0.26±0.02 mg/kg). Health-risk assessment uses USEPA Margin of Safety (MoS), Hazard Quotient (HQ), Hazard Index (HI), and Lifetime Cancer Risk (LCR). MoS, HQ, and HI exceed permissible limits in lotions and sunblock creams for Cd, Cr, and Pb (MoS <100; HQ and HI >1); the remaining four categories (hair dye, foundation, whitening cream, lipstick) stay within limits. LCR exceeds the permissible limit in every cosmetic product category EXCEPT lipsticks, signalling potential carcinogenic risk from regular long-term use.

Key numbers

Lotions (30 brands, n=90 measurements; values in mg/kg, mean ± SD):

Highest category values in lotions: Cd 2.13 mg/kg, Cr 1.00 mg/kg, Fe 7.01 mg/kg, Ni 6.29 mg/kg, Pb 8.29 mg/kg. Pb ranged 0.068–8.29 mg/kg across brand-coded lotion samples.

Hair dyes (6 brands, n=18 measurements; mg/kg):

Hair-dye Pb ranged 0.402–5.835 mg/kg across brand-coded samples; category mean Pb was 4.496 mg/kg.

Foundations (9 brands, n=27 measurements; mg/kg):

Highest Fe in a foundation sample was 45.4 mg/kg (±12.0 SD), a substantial outlier from the rest of the category.

Whitening creams (6 brands, n=18 measurements; mg/kg):

Pb across all six whitening cream samples ranged 2.5–4.0 mg/kg. The paper attributes intentional addition of colour pigments (e.g., cadmium sulphide for yellow, Cr(III) oxide for green, intentional pigment-based formulation) as the principal source of HM contamination in cosmetic products generally, without making a Pb-specific mechanistic claim for whitening creams.

Lipsticks (6 brands, n=18 measurements; mg/kg):

Category mean ± SD values: Cd 0.15±0.01, Cr 0.34±0.02, Fe 12.0±1.8, Ni 6.64±0.03, Pb 4.49±0.34.

Sunblock creams (6 brands; cited highest concentrations in abstract):

• Ni: 7.99±0.36 mg/kg — highest across all six product categories
• Pb: 6.37±0.05 mg/kg
• Cr: 0.43±0.01 mg/kg

Health-risk assessment (Pakistan adult exposure scenarios; §3.9.1–3.9.2):

• MoS > 100 (safe per WHO/SCCS): met for hair dye, foundation, whitening cream, lipstick across all five metals. Lotions and sunblock creams: MoS <100 for Cd, Cr, Pb — flagged as not safe for use at the modelled bioaccessibility scenarios.
• HQ < 1 (non-carcinogenic safe): met for hair dye, foundation, whitening cream, lipstick. Lotions and sunblock: HQ >1 for Cd, Cr, Pb at both 50% and 100% bioaccessibility.
• HI (sum of HQs across five metals): >1 in lotion and sunblock samples; <1 in hair dye, foundation, whitening cream, lipstick.
• LCR (lifetime cancer risk): exceeds 1×10⁻⁴ acceptable threshold in ALL cosmetic product categories EXCEPT lipsticks (paper notes lipstick is applied to a small area in small amount).

The LCR exceedance across most cosmetic categories is the headline finding. Pb and Cd are Group 2A/2B IARC carcinogens; chronic dermal exposure from regular cosmetic use accumulates over the user’s lifetime.

Reference regulatory limits cited:

• Canadian HCSC Cd cosmetic limit: 3 mg/kg
• USFDA dermal reference doses (µg/kg-day): Cd 0.005; Cr 0.015; Fe 140; Ni 5.4; Pb 0.42
• USFDA cosmetic Fe limit: 50 mg/kg (lotions all within)
• USFDA / Cosmetica Italia Ni cosmetic limit: 200 mg/kg (all samples within)
• Recommended Ni for skin-protection cosmetics: <1.0 mg/kg (allergic contact dermatitis threshold)
• Cosmetic carcinogenicity slope factors (cited): Pb 0.0085, Cr 0.5, Ni 0.91, Cd 6.7 (mg/kg-day)⁻¹

Methods

Sample collection: 189 samples (63 brand-level products × 3 triplicates) from local markets in Abbottabad, Haripur, and Mansehra, Pakistan. Product categories selected based on questionnaire-derived usage frequency >70% in >100 users.

Digestion: 1.0 g sample + 5 mL HNO3, overnight room temp; heat to 90 °C; add 5 mL H2SO4, heat 30-60 min; add 5 mL HClO4, digest to clear; filter through Whatman 41 + dilute to 50 mL. Blanks at 5 per batch.

Quantification: Atomic absorption spectrophotometry (PerkinElmer AAnalyst 700). Standard stock solutions at 1000 mg/L prepared fresh daily; internal standard + NIST SRM 1515 (Apple Leaves) reference material for QC; recovery 97–102%. All measurements in triplicate.

Statistics: correlation, ANOVA, and multivariate analysis. Strong correlations among Cr, Ni, and Pb (suggesting shared sources or co-formulation); Cd and Fe showed disparity (distinct sources).

Speciation: Total metals only (AAS). No speciation of Cr (Cr-VI vs Cr-III) or organotin.

Risk assessment formulas (paper Eqs 1-6):

• MoS = NOAEL / SED (target >100 for safe)
• SED = (Cs × AA × SSA × F × RF × BF × 10⁻³) / BW
• NOAEL = RfD × UF × MF (UF default 1; MF default 100)
• HQ = SED / RfD (target <1)
• HI = Σ HQ across all metals (target <1)
• LCR = SED × SF (target <10⁻⁴)

Implications

Certification: The study contributes category-level occurrence and risk-assessment data for cosmetic and personal-care matrices, including lotions, skin-lightening creams, lipsticks, hair dyes, foundations, and sunblock creams. The highest category means were in sunblock creams for Ni, Pb, and Cr; lipsticks for Fe; and lotions for Cd. Use this as Pakistani-market category context, not as a standalone HMT&C threshold-setting source.

Courses: Strong case study for cosmetic risk assessment. The full MoS/HQ/HI/LCR machinery is documented in the paper; the 200+ data points across 5 metals × 6 categories × 6-30 brands provide excellent teaching examples.

App: Category-level results can inform qualitative prioritization for cosmetic/personal-care matrices: sunblock creams, skin-lightening creams, foundations, and lotions were higher-concern categories for one or more metals in this dataset. Do not expose brand-coded sample identities in app logic or wiki outputs.

Microbiome: Not addressed.

Wiki pages this source may touch

• cadmium
• chromium
• iron
• nickel
• lead
• baby-lotion-cream
• childrens-makeup
• skin-lightening-cream
• lipstick
• children-personal-care

Verification notes

• Cross-vendor strict Part 12 recheck 2026-05-17 removed sampled-product brand names and brand-coded value callouts from the source page, replacing them with category-level descriptors and statistics. Also corrected closed-vocabulary product links, added Fe to measured metals, removed non-taxonomy regulation/new-page suggestions, and tightened HMT&C/app language.
• Subagent re-audit 2026-05-17 (autonomous v2.0 ingest pass on duplicate-PDF copy at babycare_01_Exposure_Pathways/01_Exposure_Pathways/): re-read full PDF including Tables 1 (per-brand max/min/mean/SE), 2 (per-category averages ± SE), 4 (SED), 5 (MoS); all Key numbers values verified against source. The same PDF is filed in two manual-fetch folders (babycare_01_Exposure_Pathways/ and babycare_05_Other_Categories/); both tracker entries route to this cite-key.
• Subagent re-audit verdict REVISE; applied four ❌ findings against §3.9.1–3.9.2 and Table 1:
  • Critical MoS/HQ/HI inversion corrected. Prior version stated lotions+sunblocks were SAFE per MoS/HQ/HI; paper §3.9.1 says the opposite — lotion and sunblock have MoS <100, HQ >1, HI >1 for Cd/Cr/Pb (flagged as not-safe), and the other four categories are within limits. The abstract phrasing “MoS, HQ and HI values were within the permissible limit apart from lotions and sunblock creams” had been mis-parsed as “MoS/HQ/HI met for lotions and sunblocks.” LCR statement (lipstick is the only safe category) was already correct.
  • Removed mechanistic claim “Pb(II) salts inhibit melanin formation” — not in source; paper §3.8 attributes whitening-cream pigmentation to general intentional pigment use (Cd sulphide yellow, Cr(III) oxide green), not a Pb-specific melanin mechanism.
  • Removed cross-source synthesis claim “most comprehensive Cat 2 cosmetic-occurrence source ingested to date” — per Part 9, source pages do not compare this paper to other sources.
  • Corrected “45.42 mg/kg” foundation Fe Max to “45.4 mg/kg (±12.0 SD)” matching Table 1 F1 row precision exactly.
• Added PerkinElmer AAnalyst 700 instrument vendor and NIST SRM 1515 reference material to Methods (Part 12 Exception 2 — scientific reproducibility).

Page history

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