Abstract:
There is a growing trend of people becoming beauty conscious which exacerbate the health
hazards pose on consumers due to heavy metals contamination of cosmetics. This study
determined the levels of heavy metal(loid)s and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in local and
imported cosmetics purchased from Kejetia Market and their health risk assessment. Seven (7)
metals were analyzed in 21 cosmetic samples. The seven metals assessed include Pb, Cd, As, Fe,
Ni, Cr, and Hg. The concentrations of some of the metals in imported cosmetic samples were
higher than those found in local cosmetic samples. However, there was no significant difference
between the concentrations of the metals in both local and imported cosmetic samples. Also, the
Margin of Safety (MoS) values for all the metals in the cosmetics sample were below the World
Health Organization (WHO) standard of 100. This implies both local and imported cosmetics
samples were not safe and therefore can pose adverse health risks to consumers. The hazard
quotient (HQ) and hazard indices (HI) for almost all the metals in the cosmetic samples were
greater than their permissible limits, interpreting that there is a health risk associated with the
cosmetic samples. On the other hand, carcinogenic risk for Cr and As in local and imported
cream and lotion were all higher than the tolerance levels, which implies there is higher
possibility of getting cancer when one uses such cosmetic products. Moreover, the
concentrations of some of the metals that the regulatory bodies have set a threshold for were
observed to be higher than the acceptable permissible limits. Furthermore, the analysis of the
cosmetics samples showed that 9 different VOCs are present in the samples. The local samples
have VOCs including heptadecanoic acid, pentadecanoic acid, 5, 8, 11, 14-eicosatetraenoic acid,
Tridecanoic acid and 9-octadecanoic acid. Whereas, the imported cosmetic samples have VOCs such as undecanoic acid, sterate acid, heptadecanoic acid, cis-11, 14-eicosadienoic acid, and pentadecanoic acid. In conclusion, all the cosmetics products contain significant levels of the heavy metal(loid)s.
Description:
A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY EDUCATION, FACULTY OF
SCIENCE EDUCATION, SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE
DEGREE OF
MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY
(CHEMISTRY EDUCATION)
IN AKENTEN APPIAH-MENKA UNIVERSITY OF SKILLS TRAINING AND
ENTREPRENUERIAL DEVELOPMENT
NOVEMBER 2022