Research Article
Consumer Awareness of Health Risks of Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium,and Lead Present in Cosmetic and Personal Care Products in Dubai
Naseem Mohammed Abdulla1, Samer Hamidi2, Mustafa Z Younis3 and Jai Parkash4*
1Head of Consumer Products Safety Section, Public Health & Safety Department, Dubai Municipality, Dubai, UAE
2e-School of Health and Environmental Studies, Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University, Dubai, UAE
3School of Health Sciences, Jackson State University, MS, USA
4Scientific Consultant in Environmental and Occupational Health, FL, USA
- *Corresponding Author:
- Dr. J. Parkash, Ph.D
Scientific Consultant in Environmental and Occupational Health, FL, USA
Tel: (954) 438-7769
E-mail: jaiparkash@hotmail.com
Received date May 10, 2013; Accepted date: June 05, 2013; Published date: June 07, 2013
Citation: Abdulla NM, Hamidi S, Younis MZ, Parkash J (2013) Consumer Awareness of Health Risks of Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, and Lead Present in Cosmetic and Personal Care Products in Dubai. J Community Med Health Educ 3:216. doi:10.4172/2161-0711.1000213
Copyright: © 2013 Abdulla NM, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Objectives: This study aimed to (i) identify the categories of cosmetic and personal care products (PCPs) and the relevant tests for each category, (ii) identify arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead in these products, and (iii) measure the level of awareness among the employees’ of Dubai Municipality (DM) about the associated risks in these products. Methods: Primary data were collected through administering a questionnaire to 1500 DM employees at 10 health related departments of DM. Secondary data to identify the categories of cosmetic and PCPs and associated risks were collected from the product databases available at consumer products safety section at DM. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Results: The cosmetic and PCPs containing (i) cadmium and chromium posed the highest public health risk, and (ii) arsenic posed the lowest health risk. The cosmetic and PCPs originating from (i) Taiwan and Egypt posed the highest health risk, and (ii) Tunisia and France posed the lowest risk. Conclusions: The understanding level of the consumers on certain physical aspects of consumer products was acceptable.
