Evidence for cosmetics as a source of mineral oil contamination in women.

BACKGROUND: There is strong evidence that mineral oil hydrocarbons are the greatest contaminant of the human body, amounting to approximately 1 g per person. Possible routes of contamination include air inhalation, food intake, and dermal absorption. The present study aims to identify the most relevant sources of mineral oil contamination. METHODS: One hundred forty-two women undergoing elective cesarean section were enrolled. A specimen of subcutaneous fat was removed prior to wound closure. On days 4 and 20 postpartum, milk samples were collected from the women. Fat and milk samples were analyzed for mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH). All women completed a questionnaire on personal data, nutrition habits, and use of cosmetics. MOSH concentrations in fat tissue were compared with data from the questionnaire and with MOSH concentrations in corresponding milk samples. RESULTS: The predominant predictor for MOSH contamination of fat tissue was age (p<0.001). Furthermore, body mass index (p=0.001), country of main residence (p=0.03), number of previous childbirths (p=0.029), use of sun creams in the present pregnancy (p=0.002), and use of hand creams and lipsticks in daily life (p=0.011 and p=0.007, respectively) were significant independent determinants. No association was found with nutritional habits. A strong correlation was seen between MOSH concentration in fat tissue (median 52.5 mg/kg) and in the corresponding milk fat sample from day 4 (median 30 mg/kg) (p<0.001) and day 20 (median 10 mg/kg) (p=0.028). CONCLUSIONS: The increase in MOSH concentration in human fat tissue with age suggests an accumulation over time. Cosmetics might be a relevant source of the contamination.

Mineral oil paraffins in human body fat and milk.

Paraffins of mineral oil origin (mineral paraffins) were analyzed in tissue fat collected from 144 volunteers with Caesarean sections as well as in milk fat from days 4 and 20 after birth of the same women living in Austria. In the tissue samples, the composition of the mineral paraffins was largely identical and consisted of an unresolved mixture of iso- and cycloalkanes, in gas chromatographic retention times ranging from n-C(17) to n-C(32) and centered at n-C(23)/C(24). Since the mineral oil products we are exposed to range from much smaller to much higher molecular mass and may contain prominent n-alkanes, the contaminants in the tissue fat must be a residue from selective uptake, elimination by evaporation and metabolic degradation. Concentrations varied between 15 and 360 mg/kg fat, with an average of 60.7 mg/kg and a median of 52.5 mg/kg. Mineral paraffins might be the largest contaminant of our body, widely amounting to 1g per person and reaching 10 g in extreme cases. If food were the main source, exposure data would suggest the mineral paraffins being accumulated over many years or even lifetime. The milk samples of day 4 contained virtually the same mixture of mineral paraffins as the tissue fat at concentrations between 10 and 355 mg/kg (average, 44.6 mg/kg; median, 30 mg/kg). The fats from the day 20 milks contained <5-285 mg/kg mineral paraffins (average, 21.7; median, 10mg/kg), whereby almost all elevated concentrations were linked with a modified composition, suggesting a new source, such as the use of breast salves. The contamination of the milk fat with mineral paraffins seems to decrease more rapidly than for other organic contaminants, and the transfer of mineral paraffins to the baby amounts to only around 1% of that in the body of the mother.

Food contamination with organic materials in perspective: packaging materials as the largest and least controlled source? A view focusing on the European situation.

The comparison of the various sources of food contamination with organic chemicals suggests that in the public, but also among experts, the perception of risk is often distorted. Firstly, neither pesticides nor environmental pollutants contribute the most; the amount of material migrating from food packaging into food may well be 100 times higher. Secondly, control of these large migrants is often lagging behind the standards set up for other sources, since many of the components (particularly those not being "starting materials") have not been identified and, thus, not toxicologically evaluated. Finally, attitudes towards different types of food contaminants are divergent, also reflected by the legal measures: for most sources of food contamination there are strict rules calling for minimization, whereas the European packaging industry has even requested a further increase in the tolerance to as close as possible to the limit set by the toxicologists. This paper calls for a more realistic perception and more coherent legal measures-and improvements in the control of migration from packaging material.