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Opinion on the potential health risks posed by chemical consumer products resembling food and/or having child-appealing properties
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Opinion on the potential health risks posed by chemical consumer products resembling food and/or having child-appealing properties

COLIPA n° A5

Väljaande metaandmed

Consumer products on the European market such as shower gels, shampoos, body lotions, soaps, liquid soaps and dish-washing liquids may be packaged to imitate food or have other attributes that appeal to children. These products resemble foodstuffs or are child-appealing due to their shape, colour, appearance, odour, consistency, packaging or other characteristics and may therefore be ingested by mistake. The aim of this work was to assess the risk from accidental ingestion of food-resembling or child-appealing cosmetic and liquid household products by consumers. Children between 6 months and 6 years of age and elderly people over 75 years old are the most at-risk groups for accidental ingestions of these products. Few cases of accidental ingestion of food-resembling or child-appealing products are reported. This may be due to the lack of sufficient registered information to discriminate these types of products. Data from poison centres and scientific literature on accidental ingestion of cosmetics or liquid household products suggest that the majority of such ingestions result in mild gastrointestinal effects. In some cases, more serious effects may cause cardiovascular or neurological disturbances. In the elderly, underlying health status may exacerbate these effects. Both children and the elderly are prone to aspiration, which may result in pulmonary manifestations. Characteristics that are suspected to make cosmetics and liquid household products more food-resembling include: colour, shape, packaging, taste, smell, etc. There are no studies that have specifically tested the likelihood of increased ingestion of consumer products resembling food and/or having child-appealing properties compared to other cosmetics and liquid household products. Regarding child-appealing products, it should be noted that the appeal of a product for children cannot be defined objectively, but only in relative terms. Unlike for consumer products resembling food, there are no general characteristics of the shape, colour, packaging, and consistency of cosmetics and liquid household products that make such a product relatively more child-appealing. Children can be attracted to nearly anything within their reach, depending on the number and type of other attractors in their environment, their situational and dispositional inclination to explore, and many other factors. There are no studies for any of the characteristics mentioned above that tested children’s preferences or the likelihood of ingestion with regard to cosmetics and liquid household products. There are no data to show directly that cosmetics with a sweet smell, strong colours or cartoon characters displayed on the packaging are more often ingested than others. Nevertheless, these characteristics can serve as proxies to evaluate whether products are more or less child-appealing, until more specific data are available. Cosmetic formulations are not evaluated for acute oral toxicity, except for oral care products. However, the majority of cosmetic products are considered not to exhibit serious health effects following ingestion. In accidental ingestions, the most common household products were dishwashing and laundry detergents, toilet cleaners and bleaches. Generic cosmetic formulations were used to generate a list of ingredients which may be harmful. For household products, a similar list was compiled from accidental ingestion case reports.The most harmful ingredients were: • Corrosive substances such as acetic acid, nitric acid, sulphuric acid, hydrochloric acid, sodium bisulphate, sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide. • Surfactants, dependent on composition and concentration.• Alcohols and glycols such as ethanol, isopropanol and butyl glycol. • Essential oils such as pine oil, wintergreen oil and camphor. The weight of evidence from accidental ingestion of cosmetics suggests that there is a low risk of acute poisoning in either children or the elderly. For household products, there is a slight increase of a more serious outcome. There is a lack of specific data on accidental ingestion from consumer products resembling food and/or having child-appealing properties.
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ISSN 1831-4767
ISBN 978-92-79-12777-9
DOI 10.2772/31904
Katalooginumber ND-AQ-09-040-EN-N
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ISSN 1831-4767 ISBN 978-92-79-12777-9 DOI 10.2772/31904 Katalooginumber ND-AQ-09-040-EN-N
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