Heavy metal (loid) s and volatile organic compounds in local and imported cosmetics purchased from Kejetia market, Ghana and their health risk assessment

Abstract

There is a growing trend of people becoming beauty conscious which exacerbate the health hazards pose on consumers due to heavy metals contamination of cosmetics. This study determined the levels of heavy metal(loid)s and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in local and imported cosmetics purchased from Kejetia Market and their health risk assessment. Seven (7) metals were analyzed in 21 cosmetic samples. The seven metals assessed include Pb, Cd, As, Fe, Ni, Cr, and Hg. The concentrations of some of the metals in imported cosmetic samples were higher than those found in local cosmetic samples. However, there was no significant difference between the concentrations of the metals in both local and imported cosmetic samples. Also, the Margin of Safety (MoS) values for all the metals in the cosmetics sample were below the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 100. This implies both local and imported cosmetics samples were not safe and therefore can pose adverse health risks to consumers. The hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard indices (HI) for almost all the metals in the cosmetic samples were greater than their permissible limits, interpreting that there is a health risk associated with the cosmetic samples. On the other hand, carcinogenic risk for Cr and As in local and imported cream and lotion were all higher than the tolerance levels, which implies there is higher possibility of getting cancer when one uses such cosmetic products. Moreover, the concentrations of some of the metals that the regulatory bodies have set a threshold for were observed to be higher than the acceptable permissible limits. Furthermore, the analysis of the cosmetics samples showed that 9 different VOCs are present in the samples. The local samples have VOCs including heptadecanoic acid, pentadecanoic acid, 5, 8, 11, 14-eicosatetraenoic acid, Tridecanoic acid and 9-octadecanoic acid. Whereas, the imported cosmetic samples have VOCs such as undecanoic acid, sterate acid, heptadecanoic acid, cis-11, 14-eicosadienoic acid, and pentadecanoic acid. In conclusion, all the cosmetics products contain significant levels of the heavy metal(loid)s.