Detection of Some Heavy Metals in Selected Cosmetic Products Sold in Mosul Markets

The amount of lead, iron, copper, cadmium, and cobalt in five hair dye products, five foundation products, and two whitening creams of different origins and manufacturers was estimated in this study; 2 gm of each cosmetic sample was wet-digested in concentrated nitric acid, heated in a water bath at 95 °C, mixed with 30% hydrogen peroxide after cooling, and filtered. Then, the clear separated solution was measured, using the atomic absorption technique to estimate the heavy metal content of the products. The experimental digestion conditions were optimized for some of the selected cosmetic products and applied to determine the quantity of the same heavy metals in all the products (hair dye, foundation products, and whitening creams). All elements were recovered more efficiently after digestion at 95 °C than after digestion at 85 °C; meanwhile, regardless of the digestion conditions, cadmium and cobalt were not recovered, indicating their absence in the hair dye products. The same digestion and determination procedure applied to the foundations and whitening cream detected cobalt and cadmium at low levels and iron at a relatively high level of 13.10 ppm. The highest level of lead was present in whitening creams 4.819 ppm which is included to World Health Organization (WHO) permissible proportions of Pb (10 ppm), 0.174 ppm, 0.219 ppm of cobalt and cadmium respectively which is included to World Health Organization (WHO) permissible proportions (0.3 ppm).