Potential toxicity of heavy metals in cosmetics: fake or fact: a review

ABSTRACT

The potential toxicity of heavy metals in cosmetics is becoming a serious threat to human beings day by day. Apart from its economic and beneficial uses, its toxicity issues are parallel in many aspects. Though the increasing production of cosmetics is associated with global needs, its health issues cannot be ignored. Necessary steps are required to control the unnecessary concentrations of heavy metals including lead, cadmium, copper, cobalt, chromium, nickel, zinc, arsenic, manganese, and mercury in branded and non-branded (spurious) cosmetic products. Some heavy metals are deliberately added as ingredients to cosmetic products, while others are found as impurities in raw materials. The concentration of these heavy metals in adulterated cosmetic products is higher than the prescribed limit as set by WHO, and the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), and hence their high dosage in cosmetics is of major concern and cannot be compromised. Considering the toxicity of these metals in cosmetic products, it is important to regularly examine the concentration of heavy metals in cosmetic products to ensure that they are safe for use. Herein, the amount of heavy metals in various branded and non-branded samples available in various markets of different countries have been reviewed systematically. Further, in this study, data on heavy metals in cosmetic products were extracted from studies carried out at intervals 2000–2023. Overall findings indicate that the total concentration of heavy metals in cosmetic products in various markets is detrimental to consumers. Therefore, quality control measures must be imposed to ensure metal concentrations in cosmetic products according to the regulatory limits.

KEYWORDS:

• Cosmetics impurities
• heavy metals
• health risk assessment
• cosmetics user fate
• cosmetic regulations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by HEC, Pakistan for the provision of funding under the SRGP 68/IPFP II(Batch-I)/SRGP/NAHE/HEC/2020/244.