Radioactive material in cosmetic and healthcare products: regulatory controls

Abstract

We provide an overview of the issue of the regulatory control of cosmetics and healthcare products that intentionally contain added radioactivity, the suggested health benefits from such product utilisation being firmly within the realm of the unproven. Examples are offered of control practices in several countries. Access to the products depends strongly on national controls. This apart, there is a general lacking in public awareness of such radioactive content and the potential for harm in the circumstance of daily exposure to such media. With prolonged use of these adding to cancer risk, at the manufacturing stage it is suggested that the products should be subject to regulatory inspection and certification, crucial in reducing radiation exposure. In particular, based on published data from a number of European and Asian countries, review is made of such cosmetic and healthcare products, also including estimates of the effective doses implied from the utilisation of these. The information concerns the progeny of the primordial radionuclides 238U, 232Th, and 40K, encompassing a comparatively large range of values, from 1.7×10-4 to 2.8×103 Bq per kg for 238U, 3×10-5 to 1.2×104 Bq per kg for 232Th and 1.1×10-3 to 9.5×102 for 40K. In many countries standards and regulations have been implemented typically with authority over exemptions for radioactive materials in cosmetic and healthcare products. In the absence of harmonised regulations, transnational access and the use of such cosmetic and healthcare products will remain a worldwide concern.