Analytical Chemistry of Consumer Products: Research and Regulation of Tampons and Eyeshadows

Overview

Carlin’s New College of Florida thesis reviews consumer-product research and regulation for tampons and eyeshadows. It is C-tier secondary evidence: the occurrence values are transported from cited primary studies, not generated by this thesis. The page is useful context for tampon dioxin/furan literature, eye-makeup metal literature, and analytical-method gaps, but transported values should not be double-counted when the cited primary studies are separately ingested.

Key numbers

The tampon section summarizes dioxin and furan literature rather than heavy-metal measurements. For a 1989 Swedish paper on paper products, the thesis reports a tampon 2,3,7,8-TCDD TEQ of 0.3 pg of 2,3,7,8-TCDD per gram of tampon, total 2,3,7,8-TCDD concentration of 0.92 pg/g, and other chlorinated dioxins each under 0.1 pg/g.

For the Schecter 1998 U.S. tampon work, the thesis reports PCDD 2,3,7,8-TCDD TEQ values between 0.003 pg/g and 0.042 pg/g. It reports PCDF TEQ values as between 0.4 pg/g and 0.235 pg/g; that range is copied in the source’s order, even though the endpoints are not ascending.

For the DeVito and Schecter 2002 exposure assessment, the thesis states that average daily intake of dioxins in TEQs ranged from 0.00069 to 0.016 pg, compared with the source’s estimated dietary dioxin intake of 1 pg dioxin TEQ/kg/day. For Archer et al. 2005, the thesis reports a method-detection-limit study total TEQ of 0.125 pg/g tampon, an LOD-derived average detectable TEQ of 0.0145 pg/g, and a theoretical exposure estimate of 0.108 pg/kg body weight per month for a 50-kg test case.

Table 4 transports Shin and Ahn 2007 tampon dioxin/furan values:

Table 6 transports Conti et al. 1996 atomic-absorption spectroscopy results for 18 eyeshadow samples, reported in ppb. The thesis states that lead was below the 5 μg/L detection limit in 9 samples; cadmium was not above the 0.1 μg/L detection limit in 8 samples; chromium was found in all samples; and mercury was not detected above the 1 microgram/L detection limit in any sample. Among detected rows in Table 6, lead ranged from 14.2 ± 4 to 184.4 ± 6.0 ppb, cadmium from 0.7 ± 6.5 to 35.0 ± 7.0 ppb, and chromium from 3.8 ± 4.0 to 270.7 ± 61.5 ppb.

Table 7 transports Sainio et al. 2000 eyeshadow maxima and detection limits from Helsinki-market samples:

The same section states that 9 samples had water-soluble chromium above 2 ppm, 2 samples had water-soluble chromium above 10 ppm, and the highest water-soluble chromium value was 318 ppm.

Table 8 transports Bocca et al. 2013 powder-based cosmetics/eyeshadow ICP-MS means in ppm:

Methods (brief)

This thesis is a literature and regulatory review. It discusses analytical techniques including FTIR, GC/MS, HPLC, AAS, AES, ICP-MS, and ICP-AES, but does not perform original product analysis. Its tampon occurrence values come from cited dioxin/furan studies using Soxhlet extraction and GC/HRMS or related methods. Its eye-makeup metal values come from cited AAS and ICP-MS studies of eyeshadow/cosmetic samples.

Implications

Microbiome: The tampon discussion mentions toxic shock syndrome and vaginal microflora in a regulatory/history context, but no microbiome endpoint or new microbiological measurement is reported.

Related evidence

• Menstrual tampons (scented/unscented; applicator tested as distinct component)
• Eye makeup (liners, shadows, mascara, brow products, false lash adhesives, lash/eyebrow serums)
• Lead
• Cadmium
• Mercury, Total
• Chromium
• Arsenic, Total
• Cobalt
• Nickel

Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git.