Ghana Rehman and colleagues at Government College University, Faisalabad, digested 30 talcum powders and measured lead, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, and copper by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The first author is Rehman. The file name on the supplied copy uses a coauthor name. No DOI is printed. The bibliographic record used as the access link is ResearchBib 3425. The results table uses codes P1 to P30. The paper names products in the methods, but it does not key those names to the codes, so this page does not repeat product names. The table is not split between baby powder and adult dusting powder. Both product pages are declared because the paper discusses baby care and general cosmetic talc and does not separate the results.
Key numbers
Table 1 (printed page 48) is mean plus or minus standard deviation, in ppm. Across the 30 means, lead runs from 0.001 ppm (P4, P9, and P14) to 1.053 ppm (P3, 1.053 ± 0.056). Cadmium runs from 0.001 to 0.08 ppm (P3). Cobalt runs from 0.001 ppm (P8) to 0.18 ppm (P19). Chromium runs from 0.083 ppm (P17) to 0.35 ppm (P15). Copper runs from 0.079 ppm (P17) to 0.35 ppm (P1). Chromium is total chromium. The paper does not measure hexavalent chromium.
The abstract ranges do not match the table. The abstract gives lead 0.0006 to 1.05 ppm and cobalt 0.003 to 0.180 ppm. The table minimum lead mean is 0.001 ppm and the table minimum cobalt mean is 0.001 ppm. The abstract statement that lead was extremely high in all brands, followed by cadmium, is not what Table 1 shows. Chromium and copper means are often higher than the lead and cadmium means.
The authors call 20 ppm a safe limit for lead “by FDA”, and they give other safe-limit ranges for cadmium (0.9 to 3 ppm), cobalt (1 ppm), chromium (less than 5 ppm), and copper (13 ppm) without naming an instrument. Those figures are recorded only as author statements. They are not entered as regulatory limits.
Methods (brief)
One gram was digested in 10 mL concentrated nitric acid and then 5 mL hydrogen peroxide, and diluted to a volume the paper calls the desired volume. That volume is not stated, so the printed ppm cannot be confirmed as milligrams per kilogram of powder. No limit of detection or quantification is given. The number of replicates behind each standard deviation is not stated. Samples were bought in Faisalabad.
Evidence fitness
The table is usable as a set of printed means for 30 coded powders, with the basis caveat above. It does not support a brand ranking, a hexavalent-chromium claim, or a verified FDA lead limit.
Limitations
Unstated final volume, unstated replicate count, no detection limit, abstract ranges that disagree with Table 1, and no infant-versus-adult split.
Related evidence
Update history
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