Phthalates in Baby Skin Care Products

Heather P. Lampel; Sharon E. Jacob

Dermatitis. 2011;22(05):272-276.

Results

Phthalates were detected in 4 of the 30 products tested (Table 3). Two products were leave-on products and two were wash-off products. Product #21 (a body wash) contained 0.14 ppm of DnBP (RDL, 0.1 ppm), whereas product #20 (a baby bath) contained 0.34 ppm of DEHP (RDL, 0.1 ppm). Product #5 (a sunscreen) contained 44.0 ppm of DEP (RDL, 1.0 ppm), and product #26 (a moisturizer) contained 0.29 ppm of DEP (RDL, 0.2 ppm) (see Table 3). There was no statistical significance between the wash-off and leave-on product groups in terms of phthalate detection (p = .578). The remaining products tested did not have phthalates detected above the RDL.

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Table 1. Baby Skin Care Products Tested
Product No.	Product Type	Application
1	Baby bath	Wash-off
2	Body wash	Wash-off
3	Moisturizer	Leave-on
4	Diaper cream	Leave-on
5	Sunscreen	Leave-on
6	Moisturizer	Leave-on
7	Moisturizer	Leave-on
8	Moisturizer	Leave-on
9	Moisturizer	Leave-on
10	Body wash	Wash-off
11	Moisturizer	Leave-on
12	Body wash	Wash-off
13	Body wash	Wash-off
14	Sunscreen	Leave-on
15	Diaper cream	Leave-on
16	Diaper cream	Leave-on
17	Sunscreen	Leave-on
18	Sunscreen	Leave-on
19	Moisturizer	Leave-on
20	Baby bath	Wash-off
21	Body wash	Wash-off
22	Body wash	Wash-off
23	Body wash	Wash-off
24	Diaper cream	Leave-on
25	Moisturizer	Leave-on
26	Moisturizer	Leave-on
27	Sunscreen	Leave-on
28	Body wash	Wash-off
29	Baby bath	Wash-off
30	Moisturizer	Leave-on

Table 2. Tested Phthalates
Bis(2-n-butoxyethyl) phthalate	Diethyl phthalate
Bis(2-ethoxyethyl) phthalate	Dihexyl phthalate
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate	Diisobutyl phthalate
Bis(2-methoxyethyl) phthalate	Diisodecyl phthalate
Bis(4-methyl-2-pentyl) phthalate	Diisonoyl phthalate
Butyl benzyl phthalate	Dinonyl phthalate
Diamyl phthalate	Dimethyl phthalate
Di-n-butyl phthalate	Di-n-octyl phthalate
Dicyclohexyl phthalate

Table 3. Results for Products with Detectable Phthalates
Product No.	Product Type	Phthalate Detected	Detected Phthalate Concentration (ppm)	RDL (ppm)
5	Sunscreen	Diethyl phthalate	44.0	1.0
20	Baby bath	Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate	0.34	0.1
21	Body wash	Di-n-butyl phthalate	0.14	0.1
26	Moisturizer	Diethyl phthalate	0.29	0.2
ppm = parts per million; RDL = reported detection limit.

Table 4. Examples of Reported Detection Limits for Diethyl Phthalate
Product No.	Product Type	RDL (ppm)
1	Baby bath	0.10
2	Body wash	0.20
3	Moisturizer	0.20
4	Diaper cream	0.20
5	Sunscreen	1.00
6	Moisturizer	1.00
7	Moisturizer	0.50
8	Moisturizer	0.20
9	Moisturizer	0.20
10	Body wash	0.10
11	Moisturizer	0.20
12	Body wash	0.10
13	Body wash	0.10
14	Sunscreen	1.00
15	Diaper cream	1.00
16	Diaper cream	1.00
17	Sunscreen	1.00
18	Sunscreen	1.00
19	Moisturizer	0.20
20	Baby bath	0.10
21	Body wash	0.10
22	Body wash	0.10
23	Body wash	0.10
24	Diaper cream	1.00
25	Moisturizer	0.50
26	Moisturizer	0.20
27	Sunscreen	1.0
28	Body wash	0.10
29	Baby bath	0.10
30	Moisturizer	0.20

ppm = parts per million; RDL = reported detection limit.

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Phthalates in Baby Skin Care Products

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