A Survey of Phthalates and Parabens in Personal Care Products from the United States and Its Implications for Human Exposure

Abstract

Despite the widespread usage of phthalates and parabens in personal care products (PCPs), little is known about concentrations and profiles as well as human exposure to these compounds through the use of PCPs. In this study, nine phthalates and six parabens were determined in 170 PCPs (41 rinse-off and 109 leave-on), including 20 baby care products collected from Albany, New York. Phthalates were less frequently found in rinse-off PCPs but were more frequently found in perfumes (detection frequency of 100% for diethyl phthalate [DEP], 67% for dibutyl phthalate [DBP]), skin toners (90% for DEP), and nail polishes (90% for DBP). Parabens were found in ∼40% of rinse-off products and ∼60% of leave-on products. The highest concentrations of DEP, DBP, methyl- (MeP), ethyl- (EtP), propyl- (PrP), and butyl parabens (BuP) were on the order of 1000 μg per gram of the product. On the basis of amount and frequency of use of PCPs and the measured median concentrations of target analytes, the total dermal intake doses (sum of all phthalates or parabens) were calculated to be 0.37 and 31.0 μg/kg-bw/day for phthalates and parabens, respectively, for adult females. The calculated dermal intake of phthalates from PCPs was lower for infants and toddlers than for adult females. In contrast, dermal intake of parabens from PCPs by infants and toddlers was higher than that for adult females. The calculated maximum daily exposure dose of MeP, EtP, and PrP from PCPs ranged between 58.6 and 766 μg/kg-bw/day for infants and toddlers, which was 3 times higher than that calculated for adult females. PCPs are an important source of human exposure to parabens; the contribution of PCPs to phthalate exposure is low, except for DEP.

Analytical method for the determination and a survey of parabens and their derivatives in pharmaceuticals

“…In liquid pharmaceuticals, the composition pattern of parabens was similar to those reported previously in personal care products (Guo and Kannan, 2013;Guo et al, 2014;Liao and Kannan, 2014;Wu et al, 2008) (i.e., MeP 4PrP 4EtP 4BuP 4 4BzP). The concentrations of parabens found in liquid samples can be grouped into two categories (see Table S4 in Supplementary material): samples with concentrations o 1 mg/g and those with hundreds of mg/g.…”

“…Parabens are alkyl esters of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HB) and are widely used as preservatives in consumer products including processed foodstuffs (Liao et al, 2013a,b), cosmetics (Guo and Kannan, 2013;Guo et al, 2014;Baranowska et al, 2014), toiletries (Guo and Kannan, 2013;Guo et al, 2014;Baranowska et al, 2014), paper products (Liao and Kannan, 2014) and pharmaceuticals (Baranowska et al, 2014) due to their low cost, effectiveness over a wide range of pH, high stability, water solubility and a broad spectrum antimicrobial activity. In particular, preservatives are added to pharmaceuticals to prevent any microbial growth and/or degradation of the drug (i.e., to increase the shelf-life).…”

Spatial distribution, temporal variation and risks of parabens and their chlorinated derivatives in urban surface water in Beijing, China

“…Parabens, alkyl and aryl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (PHBA), are extensively used as preservatives in cosmetics, food, pharmaceuticals and industrial products (Gorga et al, 2013;Guo and Kannan, 2013;Liao and Kannan, 2014). These compounds were traditionally considered as ideal preservatives because of their low toxicity, chemical stability, wide spectrum of antibacterial activity, and low production costs (Haman et al, 2015;Soni et al, 2005).…”

Occurrence, fate and risk assessment of parabens and their chlorinated derivatives in an advanced wastewater treatment plant

“…Parabens, a group of alkyl esters of the p-hydroxybenzoic acid (PHBA), are extensively applied as antimicrobial preservatives in food commodities, industrial products, pharmaceutical and personal care products [1][2][3]. Due to their ongoing wide use and continuous introduction into the environment through domestic and industrial wastewater, parabens have been recently found in water, soil, sediment, dust and fish [4][5][6][7][8].…”