Fifty-six talcum powders sold in southeast Nigeria were acid-digested and measured for lead, cadmium, cobalt, and total chromium by flame atomic absorption. Across all samples the means were 5.0 ± 1.0 mg/kg lead (range 0.4-41), 2.1 ± 0.3 mg/kg cadmium (ND-8.1), 0.7 ± 0.1 mg/kg cobalt (ND-2.4), and 0.2 ± 0.1 mg/kg chromium (ND-2.7). Medians were 3.6, 0.5, 1.7 mg/kg for lead, cobalt, and cadmium. Chromium was detected in about 11 products. Manufacturer-level means are in Table 2 under codes TPM I-VIII because the product list names brands and those names are not repeated here. Two products exceeded 10 mg/kg lead; excluding them, the lead mean was 3.7 ± 0.3 mg/kg (0.4-8.7).
Key numbers
| Analyte | Matrix | Value | Unit | Statistic | N | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pb | talcum powder, TPM I | 3.9 ± 0.5 | mg/kg | mean | 8 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Pb | talcum powder, TPM I | 1.3-5.3 | mg/kg | range | 8 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Co | talcum powder, TPM I | 1.1 ± 0.3 | mg/kg | mean | 8 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Co | talcum powder, TPM I | 0.4-2.4 | mg/kg | range | 8 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Cd | talcum powder, TPM I | 3.0 ± 0.6 | mg/kg | mean | 8 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Cd | talcum powder, TPM I | 0.7-5.4 | mg/kg | range | 8 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Cr | talcum powder, TPM I | 0.1 ± 0.1 | mg/kg | mean | 8 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Cr | talcum powder, TPM I | ND-0.8 | mg/kg | range | 8 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Pb | talcum powder, TPM II | 2.9 ± 0.8 | mg/kg | mean | 5 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Pb | talcum powder, TPM II | 1.0-4.7 | mg/kg | range | 5 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Co | talcum powder, TPM II | 0.7 ± 0.41 | mg/kg | mean | 5 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
| Co | talcum powder, TPM II | ND-1.1 | mg/kg | range | 5 | Table 2 p.PDF p.6 (printed 1139) |
Methods (brief)
Open digestion block, not microwave. No certified reference material or numeric detection limit is reported. Table 2 cells are mean ± standard error, with the range in parentheses and, for several manufacturers, a geometric mean on a third line.
Detection and reporting: No numeric LOD or LOQ is stated. Non-detects are reported as ND.
Basis: Total element in the powder as sold, mg/kg. Not a migration or inhalable-fraction measurement. Chromium is total Cr.
Evidence fitness
This source can support: Total Pb, Cd, Co, and Cr in Nigerian-market talcum powder, as overall and manufacturer-group statistics; A single medicated dusting-powder lead and cadmium pair.
It cannot support: Brand-level concentrations; Inhalable or dermal dose; Chromium(VI); A numeric detection limit; Copper concentrations.
Limitations
n=56, so individual powders were not transcribed; Table 2 manufacturer summaries and Table 3 overall statistics were used. Figure 1 is a plot without a numeric table. LOD is unstated, so ND cannot be converted to a concentration. Baby-powder rows may overlap manufacturer rows; they are entered as printed and should not be added to the TPM rows to recreate n=56. Chromium is not speciated. The 10-20 mg/kg US FDA figure is for lead as an impurity in dye, which the paper applies only by assumption. The 10 mg/kg lead and 50 mg/kg copper figures are a 1982 proposal cited by the paper, and copper was not measured.
Related evidence
Update history
No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.