Canada comes down heavily on use of heavy metals in cosmetics

In a bid to evaluate proper limits of ‘impurities’ in cosmetics, the Canadian government has issued new guidelines on heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and antimony.

Health Canada states that cosmetics should not contain heavy metals, as they may adversely affect the health of the user, when they make their way into pigments and other raw materials, according to cosmeticsdesign.com.

Some were also being used in the past as cosmetic ingredients; for eg: hair dye lead acetate.

According to the guidelines, heavy metal impurity concentrations in cosmetic products will be viewed as technically avoidable if they exceed certain limits.

In the case of lead, it is 10 ppm. For arsenic, cadmium and mercury, it is 3 ppm.

The document states that these levels, which are based on cosmetic products sampled in Canada, are in accordance with acceptable levels of impurities in other programme areas.

"It is important to note that occurrences of heavy metals above these limits will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis," adds the document.

"Products with values above these limits may undergo an assessment to determine the level of risk posed by the product, which would then determine the appropriate enforcement action," the document categorically states.

The Canadian government has also issued a warning that if a risk is suspected in a particular cosmetic product, it can request information on heavy metal test results on it, and tells manufacturers to be ready with the information.

It is the first time since 2009 that Canada Health made changes to its cosmetics regulations.