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Kortlægning og sundhedsmæssig vurdering af kosmetiske produkter til børn Summary and conclusionsBackground and purposeA number of the cosmetic products, especially within the ranges of shampoo, body shampoo and soap, are marketed as products for children. The packaging materials of the products are often very colourful and may be designed as for instance cartoon figures. This means that in some cases the products may also be used as toys. Based on the assumption that this market is increasing the Danish Environmental Protection Agency started this survey in the spring of 2006 with the purpose to map cosmetic products for children marketed on the Danish market. The purpose of the survey was to get an overview of the chemical substances that the products contain and the constituents which may be problematic for children’s health. The focus of the project was on allergenic fragrances and preservatives. Finally, this project has had the purpose to test the packaging material for the cosmetic products for children for a content of possible problematic substances. Focus has been on packaging materials designed as special figures and selected packaging materials are tested for a content of heavy metals and phthalates among other things. The surveyThe project is conducted by FORCE Technology, Department of Sustainability and Management, who has been in charge of the survey, the selection of products for analysis as well as the health assessment. The analyses of the constituents of the products were conducted by Eurofins, while the analyses of the constituents of the packing materials were conducted by FORCE Technology, Department of Chemical Analysis. The survey of the cosmetic products for children was completed in the period from April to June 2006 by shopping in all kinds of shops selling cosmetic products for children. Shops as chemists, toy stores, 10-kroners shops, 1000 Things shops, convenience stores, supermarkets, bookstores, children’s clothes stores, hairdressers, department stores and some other shops were visited – mainly in the northern part of Zealand and in the Copenhagen area. Furthermore, products were ordered via the Internet and declarations of content being available via the Internet have also been used in the survey. Main conclusionsThe project shows that cosmetic products for children in the age of 3-14 years represent a large market. The volume of the yearly sale of cosmetic products for children is not investigated but the number of different products shows that cosmetic products for children represent a significant market. In total 208 different products were identified in the survey. The survey is not complete as especially up to the Christmas trade many bath products for children designed as different cartoon figures are found, but the survey is estimated to include the majority of the products which are daily found on the Danish market. The most important conclusions from the survey are:
The most significantly health impacts to which children can be exposed when using the tested cosmetic products for children are assessed to be the risk of allergy due to the added fragrances and preservatives. Furthermore, in some cases the packaging can contain phthalates of which some are on the EU list of endocrine-disrupting substances. With the new phthalate legislation which became effective as per 16 April 2007 it is now banned to apply these phthalates in toys for children up to 14 years and in child care articles in concentrations above 0.1%. This ban covers the all 10 products, where the packaging material are analyzed for content of phthalates, since they are either comprised by the legislation on toys or are defined as child care articles. Project resultsIn total 208 different cosmetic products for children were identified in the survey, distributed on the following product types (listed after falling number of mapped products):
A large part of the products contained allergenic substances A large part of the mapped products contained allergenic substances in the form of fragrances, preservatives and/or colouring agents. 74% of all products contained perfume but if the products with no declaration of content available as well as the non-perfumed tooth paste products are left out 86% of the remaining products had a content of perfume. About one-third of the products contained one or more of the 26 fragrances which must be declared separately. More than the half (63%) of the products contained preservatives. A number of preservatives is considered to be allergenic. Twelve of the 23 applied preservatives are considered to be allergenic or potentially allergenic. Among the six most frequently applied preservatives five were parabens of which propyl paraben, butyl paraben and isobutyl paraben are a subject for a debate about endocrine disrupting effects. Correspondingly, more than the half (57%) of the products contained colouring agents. Few colouring agents being considered to be allergenic were found in the cosmetic products for children and these colouring agents were only found in the hair dye products (rinsing colours) – seven products in total. The EU Commission has banned 22 substances in hair dyes per 1 December 2006. None of these colouring agents were found in the mapped products for children. Analysis of the products The project focus was on the allergenic properties of the cosmetic products for children. Therefore, 17 products were selected for analysis of their quantitative content of the 26 fragrances mandatory to declare as the EU considers them to be allergenic. Additionally, 11 products have been analyzed for their quantitative content of the allergenic preservative Kathon[2] which was found in 15 products. The analyses showed a total content of the 26 fragrances of up to 7,800 mg/kg (0.78%) – found in an eau de toilette product. The analyses also showed that six products did not comply with the legislation for the declaration of content as described in the Cosmetics Statutory Order. One of the products had no declared content of “perfume” in the product even if the analysis showed fragrances in the product. For the five other products, a declaration of a few of the 26 fragrances was missing as these fragrances according to the analyses are found in a concentration in the products so they have to be declared separately as described in the Cosmetics Statutory Order. According to the Cosmetics Statutory Order the new legislation applies for products being produced after March 2005. It is possible that the analyzed products are produced before March 2005 and therefore still keep the Cosmetics Statutory Order. The analyses of the 11 products for Kathon showed that none of the products exceeded the permissible content of 15 mg/kg. However, in three of the products a content of Kathon was identified even if the products according to the declaration of content had no content of Kathon. Analysis of the packaging material of the products A number of products (14) were examined for a content of chlorine in the packaging material as an indication that the material was made of PVC. Based on the plastic type code on the packaging the survey showed that eight other products had packaging of PVC. In total 10 packaging materials were examined for the content of phthalates. The phthalate types being identified were primarily DEHP and DINP. The total phthalate content in the examined packaging materials was 31% as a maximum. All the examined products with a content of phthalates were designed as a cartoon figure, an animal or similar. DEHP and DINP were banned as per 16 April 2007 in toys for children up to 14 years and in child care articles in a concentration above 0.1% - for DINP only in toys which children might put into the mouth. The Danish Safety Technology Authority has indicatively stated that two of the analyzed products are toys while the rest are defined as child care articles. Some of the products are thus in discrepancy with the new phthalate legislation. All of the analyzed products were legal at the time of analysis (November 2006). Ten products were analyzed for their content of heavy metals in the packaging material. All the measured total values of heavy metals in the packaging materials are significantly below the set threshold values indicating the amount of metals which may migrate out of the toys when in use. The measured total values are not cause for concern in relation to the existing threshold limits for migration of substances from toy materials. For the same reason no migration analyses of selected products were conducted. Health assesment/risk assesment On the basis of the results of the quantitative analyses of cosmetic products for children a risk assessment of the analyzed products for their content of Kathon and benzyl alcohol is conducted based on the acute toxicity of the substances. The risk assessment showed that the margin of safety (MoS) is far from being exceeded in most cases. In general, there is no health risk by using the analyzed products in relation to the content of Kathon and benzyl alcohol respectively. Fodnoter[2] Kathon is a mixture of the two substances methylchlorisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone in the ratio 3:1
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