Abstract—Thirteen samples of eye cosmetics including five samples of artificial eye cosmetics and eight samples of traditional eyeliner (kohl) were collected from various Arabic markets, and analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) to assess concentrations of the most toxic elements (arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb)), and high purity germanium detector (HPGe) to determine radioactivity concentrations of the natural radionuclides
238U,
235U,
226Ra,
232Th and 40K. The average concentrations of the elements As, Cd, Hg and Pb are a bit high in some samples in a way that they might cause some harm to human health, while the average values of the activity concentrations for
238U,
235U,
226Ra,
232Th and 40K are not that high. Annual absorbed amounts of heavy elements from daily applied kohl were calculated based on roughly assumption that about 50 % of the applied kohl is absorbed into the body. An appropriate simulation has been done for the eye using the MCNP code to estimate the dose rate of the lens of the eye as a result of using contaminated kohl.
Index Terms—Cosmetics, kohl, MCNP code, radioactivity concentrations, heavy elements concentrations.
The authors are with Cairo University, Cairo, Giza 12613, Egypt (e-mail: mmsherif@enu.eg, momen_ahmad_orabi@yahoo.com, asiza14@yahoo.com).
[PDF]
Cite: M. M. Sherif, M. Orabi, and O. R. Abdurahem, "Study of Heavy Elements and Radioactivity Concentrations in Some Eye Cosmetics Commonly Used in Arabic Regions," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 66-70, 2015.
