Spectroscopic detection of health hazardous contaminants in lipstick using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) technique was applied to determine the concentrations of different toxic elements like lead, chromium, cadmium and zinc in four different lipstick brands sold at local markets in Saudi Arabia. These samples contain toxic elements like lead, cadmium and chromium which are carcinogen dermatitis, allergic and eczematous. Their extraction from human body takes over 40 years and accumulation in the body cause problems like disruption of nervous systems and kidney damage. They could trigger to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In order to test the validity of our LIBS results, standard technique like (ICP-AES) was also applied. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where LIBS technique was applied for the measurement of toxic substances in lipsticks. The maximum concentration detected in four lipstick brands was much higher than the permissible safe limits for human use and could lead to serious health problems. It is worth mentioning that the lipstick is not a solid rather is in fluid state which is not trivial to analyze using LIBS technique. For this purpose, special treatment of the lipstick samples was necessary to analyze with our LIBS method.