Mineral Oil Aliphatic and Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Cosmetic Lip Products

摘要

Lipsticks and lip care products may contain saturated hydrocarbons which either derive from mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) or are of synthetic origin, namely polyolefin oligomeric saturated hydrocarbons (POSH). Some of these hydrocarbons become strongly accumulated and thus may form granulomas in human tissues. This prompted Cosmetics Europe (former Colipa) to issue their recommendation #14 for lip care and oral products: only mineral oil products should be used in oral and lip care products, for which an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) has been defined. Also mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) are possible impurities in cosmetic lip products depending on the refining process during production of the mineral oil based ingredients. MOSH, POSH and MOAH were extracted and analyzed by online-LC-GC-FID. Areas in the chromatograms were integrated as a total as well as by mass ranges with cuts at n-C25 and n-C34 to characterize the molecular mass distribution for MOSH and POSH and for their total MOAH content. 27 samples of cosmetic lip products from the German market were analyzed in 2016. About 70 % of the products contained at least 5 % MOSH + POSH (total concentration). For regular users, these products would be major contributors to their MOSH + POSH exposure levels when compared to the estimated dietary exposure taking into account an daily oral uptake for lip cosmetic products of 57 mg as estimated by the SCCS. About 26 % of the products contained more than 32 % MOSH + POSH. Their regular usage would amount in an estimated MOSH + POSH exposure exceeding the highest estimated dietary exposure. The majority of the products contained hydrocarbons with a molecular mass range which was not in accordance with the recommendations of Cosmetics Europe. About 41 % of the samples contained MOAH levels in the range of more than 5000 ppm. The BfR recommends the exclusive use of mineral oil ingredients in cosmetic lip products which are in conformity with recommendation #14 of Cosmetics Europe and for which an ADI value exists. Further, the MOAH content should be reduced to the level of technical unavoidableness, thereby taking into consideration the existing data gaps for this group of substances.