An Overview of Heavy Metals in Cosmetic Products and Their Toxicological Impact

Jităreanu et al. 2025 — Review of heavy metals in cosmetic products and toxicological impact

This open-access Applied Sciences review synthesizes current literature on heavy-metal occurrence in cosmetic products (lipsticks, mascara, eye shadows, face powders, hair products, skin-care, sunscreens, toothpastes, kohl, henna, skin-lightening creams), per-metal toxicological impact, current EU, US, Canadian, and Chinese regulatory limits, and emerging non-animal (NAM) testing approaches. It compiles cosmetic-relevant regulatory thresholds in one place and assembles a per-metal hazard summary table linking metals to the product categories where they typically appear.

Key numbers

• Regulatory limits compiled (Section 4, p. 6):
  • EU (Regulation EC 1223/2009): Sb, As, Cd, Hg, Pb prohibited as intentional ingredients; water-soluble Zn salts up to 1%; Zn phenolsulfonate in deodorants/antiperspirants/astringents up to 6%; Al-Zr chloride hydroxide complexes in antiperspirants up to 20%; mercuric thiomersal/phenylmercuric salts permitted in eye-product preservatives up to 0.007% Hg.
  • Germany (lowest in EU): Cd 0.1 mg/kg, Hg 0.1 mg/kg, As 0.5 mg/kg, Sb 0.5 mg/kg, Pb 2 mg/kg.
  • US FDA (MoCRA 2022 framework): As 3 ppm; Hg 1 ppm; Pb 10 ppm in lip products / externally applied cosmetics; Pb 20 ppm in color additives.
  • Canada: Pb 10 ppm; As 3 ppm; Cd 3 ppm; Hg 1 ppm; Sb 5 ppm; lead/arsenic/cadmium/mercury/stibium/chromium prohibited as intentional ingredients.
  • China: As 2 mg/kg; Cd 5 mg/kg; Pb 10 mg/kg; Hg 1 mg/kg.
• Sample-level findings cited from prior studies (Section 3, pp. 3-4):
  • Piccinini et al. studied 223 lip products from 15 EU member states; the present review does not re-report individual values, summarizes findings.
  • FDA surveys (2010-2013): >400 lip product samples plus 120 externally applied cosmetics; 150 cosmetic products of 12 types analyzed for As, Cd, Cr, Co, Pb, Hg, Ni.
  • Hamann et al. analyzed 549 skin-lightening products using portable XRF; 6.0% above 1000 ppm Hg.
  • Al-Ashban et al. examined 107 kohl samples in Saudi Arabia; high lead correlated with high lead blood concentrations.
  • Mokashi et al. reported kohl Pb concentrations up to 800,000 ppm in some samples.
  • Iwegbue et al. 160 facial cosmetics from Nigeria (lip products, eye shadows and pencils, mascaras, blushes, and face powders); products from Asian countries showed higher heavy metals than those from Europe and USA but MoS indicated low consumer risk in most cases.
  • Corazza et al. examined toy makeup products: Cr exceeded the 5 ppm maximum limit in 53.8% of samples; higher levels in powdery products; Co and Ni also present.
  • Wang et al. face paints: >25% of samples associated with carcinogenic risk above maximum acceptable; Cr was primary contributor.
• Per-metal hazard summary (Table 1, pp. 5-6): mapping of Al, As (iAs more toxic; As3+ more toxic than As5+), Cd, Cr (Cr6+ more toxic than Cr3+), Cu, Fe, Pb, Hg [inorganic salts], Ni, Zn to specific product categories and reported health effects. No new numerical occurrence data in this table; product categorization only.
• Table 2 compendium of cited primary studies (pp. 9-12) covers 40+ studies across FAAS, ET AAS (GF AAS), HR-CS GF AAS, SS-HR-CS ET AAS, CV-AAS, MP-AES, and ICP-MS. Selected entries directly relevant to children’s product categories:
  • Talcum baby powder (n=4) from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia: Ni 2082-3102 ppb (above permissible in all samples), As 63-672.6 ppb (within safe limits), Cr slightly above 5 ppm in 3 of 4 samples (5.846, 5.624, 5.25 ppm) [ref 108].
  • Toothpastes (n=9) MP-AES: Pb exceeded approved limits in most cases, max 8.83 ppm; Zn max 2417 ppm; Cr 0.28-7.35 ppm; Ni 0.43-2.54 ppm; Hg and Cd absent [ref 58].
  • Skin and hair products / makeup / toothpaste (n=21) from Saudi Arabia, ICP-MS: highest Pb 78.31 ppm and Cr 1610.64 ppm in a toothpaste; max As 221.96 ppm in toothpaste [ref 53].
  • Soaps / toothpaste / skin creams / hair products (n=31) multi-country, ICP-MS: Al max 512,607.9 ppb (creams), 339,869.0 ppb (hair products), 1,435,929.5 ppb (toothpastes); Pb 592.88-29,683.12 ppb (hair products); Hg 29.08-757.84 ppb (creams) [ref 32].
  • Kohl (n=10 each) from Syria/Sudan/Jordan: Pb concentrations Syria 391 µg/g > Sudan 352.3 µg/g > Jordan 328.5 mg/g (mixed units reported as in source) [ref 10].
  • Kohl (n=16) from Algeria/Saudi Arabia/India/Pakistan ET AAS: Pb detected in 81.2% of samples, max 85.57 µg/g [ref 7].
  • Face paints (n=91) from China/Germany/Japan ICP-MS: As detected in 100%; Cd 0.01-19.2 µg/g; Zn max 183,343 µg/g; Cu max 21,899 µg/g; Pb 0.02-370 µg/g (77 samples) [ref 31].
  • Lip products (n=223) from 15 EU member states ICP-MS: Pb below recommended limits; lipsticks higher than glosses; highest Pb average 0.91 ppm in price category II lipsticks [ref 3, Piccinini].
• Methods reviewed: AAS (FAAS, GFAAS, CV-AAS for Hg, HR-CS-GFAAS), ICP-OES, ICP-MS, XRF (portable), FRET-based chemosensors (rhodamine-naphthalimide conjugate for Pb in lipstick; silica nanosphere chromophores for Cd/Co), distance-based microfluidic paper-based devices (D-µPADs). ISO standard for ICP-MS of trace metals in finished cosmetic formulations is cited (p. 7).

Methods (brief)

Narrative literature review (not systematic). Database searches across PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar using keywords “heavy metals,” “cosmetics,” “risk assessment,” “skin sensitization,” “carcinogenic risk,” “NAMs,” “cytotoxicity,” “genotoxicity.” Includes original articles, reviews, and book chapters published 1990 to present (received Oct 2025; accepted Dec 2025; published Dec 5 2025). No formal inclusion/exclusion protocol stated; no PRISMA flow diagram. Limitations: most cited studies are small-n (the review notes this). Speciation handled inconsistently across cited studies; the review’s Table 1 distinguishes iAs/As3+/As5+ and Cr-VI/Cr-III where the underlying citations support it but does not enforce the distinction across all summary statements.

Implications

• Certification (HMTc): Useful regulatory-frame reference for children’s cosmetic product threshold development. The compiled EU / US / CA / CN limits (see Key numbers) anchor cross-jurisdictional crosswalk work for lipstick, face-paint, childrens-makeup, skin-lightening-cream threshold pages.
• Courses: Foundational survey for a children’s-cosmetics regulatory-affairs course module. Per-metal hazard summary (Table 1) maps each analyte to the cosmetic product types where it most commonly appears; useful as a course-overview reading.
• App: Not relevant to ingredient contamination_profile (cosmetics are not in the ingredient taxonomy).

Wiki pages this source may touch

• lead
• cadmium
• mercury-total
• arsenic-inorganic
• chromium-hexavalent
• nickel
• aluminum
• lipstick
• face-paint
• childrens-makeup
• skin-lightening-cream
• baby-sunscreen-mineral
• baby-sunscreen-chemical
• toothpaste

Verification notes

• This is one of two PDFs in the batch with title “An Overview of Heavy Metals in Cosmetic Products and Their Toxicological Impact” - one in babycare_01 (read here), one in babycare_04 (a near-duplicate or identical file). Will mark the babycare_04 version as a near_duplicate when it is processed.
• 2026-05-18: confirmed babycare_03 Overview_Heavy_Metals_Cosmetics_Toxicological.pdf is byte-identical to the babycare_01 source (SHA-256 6962413139daeb23e7732542a75c8fcbb470f4fc8eaaddd35f07ef0ee093d6e6); added to near_duplicates. Skill stopped without re-ingest per the post-2026-05-14 clean rule.
• 2026-05-18: confirmed babycare_04 An_Overview_of_Heavy_Metals_in_Cosmetic_Products_and_Their_Toxicological_Impact.pdf is byte-identical to the babycare_01 source (same SHA-256 6962413139daeb23e7732542a75c8fcbb470f4fc8eaaddd35f07ef0ee093d6e6); added to near_duplicates. Skill stopped without re-ingest per the post-2026-05-14 clean rule.
• Review article - B-tier per Part 13 (reviews are not treated as A-tier primary evidence).
• Brand firewall (Part 12): the review’s cited studies (Hamann, Piccinini, Iwegbue, etc.) include some brand-named samples; this source page summarizes at category level only.
• Kohl Pb values up to 800,000 ppm cited from Mokashi et al. - that is a citation to a separate primary study which would be the appropriate page for those specific numbers; including the figure here to flag the magnitude (kohl is the outlier product class for Pb in cosmetics).
• 2026-05-17 enhancement: Added Table 2 highlights to Key numbers (talcum baby powder, toothpastes, kohl, face paints, lip products from cited primary studies). The review’s Table 2 compendium is its main value-add and was thin in the prior revision. Numbers are presented as the review reports them with reference numbers traceable to the underlying primary studies; specific values belong on those primary-study source pages, not synthesized here.
• Cross-vendor audit (Codex, 2026-05-17) corrected three Table 2 transcription errors: talcum baby powder Cr 5.886 → 5.846 ppm; kohl Jordan Pb unit mg/kg → source-reported mg/g; Algeria/Saudi Arabia/India/Pakistan kohl max Pb 85.87 → 85.57 µg/g. The Syria/Sudan/Jordan kohl row preserves the review’s mixed-unit reporting and should be checked against the primary Massadeh et al. paper before reuse as occurrence evidence.
• Empty ingredients: and matrices: are intentional: the review covers metals as contaminants/intentional additives in finished cosmetic products; it does not focus on specific ingredients (the products themselves are the unit of analysis) and matrices: is a food-vocabulary field that does not apply to cosmetics. Routing audit flags this as an “advisory” (optional fields empty), not a malformed error.
• Audit subagent (2026-05-17) flagged Iwegbue product list dropped “pencils” from Section 3 p. 3 — verified against source; corrected to “lip products, eye shadows and pencils, mascaras, blushes, and face powders” to match exact source wording.
• Audit subagent (2026-05-17) flagged Implications Certification line restated EU/Germany/US/CA/CN regulatory values already in Key numbers — verified the duplication was stylistically redundant; tightened to a single sentence referencing Key numbers (Part 2 firewall not violated either way, but cleaner without the duplicate).

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

Commit	Date	Description
ce3e07c	2026-05-28	activation | Vercel DATACITE env slots set, curators.md filled with founder entry + six scoped reviewer invitations, peer-review onboarding playbook drafted
51400b9	2026-05-28	audit-queue: gasparik2017-wild-boar-slovakia-metals audited-revised