Devyani Goswami, Amity University Kolkata
More than 60% of cosmetics products are made up of talc to enhance the quality of the product. A two years (2018-2020) study concluded that every talc-based cosmetics products have a little amount of asbestos in them which can cause cancer, as many complaints were made stating women suffering from cancer. Talc and asbestos are formed and extracted from the same parent rock and used for cosmetics and industrial uses. Asbestos is a carcinogenic compound responsible for various diseases like asbestosis, lung, and ovarian cancer, mesothelioma. Even a small amount of asbestos can cause these terrible diseases, by inhaling the compound present in the talc-based cosmetics; as there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos. Over 60% of mesothelioma cases occur in non-occupational women, who are exposed to asbestos via talc-based cosmetics.
A survey conducted by Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database found out that in the US alone 2000 personal care products sold out contained asbestos. To test the asbestos level in the products, a voluntary testing method, CTFA-J4-1, specifies X-ray diffraction was used. It was found that 3 out of 21 products tested positive for tremolite asbestos. That is 14% of the product tested positive for asbestos. An FDA investigation also concluded that 9 out 0f 52 products tested positive for asbestos, upon identification by polarized light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.
Although there is no common method for testing the presence of asbestos in the cosmetics. The FDA has concluded that the cosmetics company must take further decisions on extracting talc from uncontaminated mines for better results. Yet efforts are made to quantify the amount of asbestos in a product, which requires a lot of research.
Also read: Child Born With COVID-19 Antibody
REFERENCE:
1) Research group warns: Talc – based cosmetics test positive for Asbestos
https://scitechdaily.com/research-group-wans-talc-based-cosmetics-test -positive-for-asbestos/
2) Asbestos contamination in Talc-based cosmetics: An invisible Cancer Risk https://doi.org/10.1177/1178630220976558
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