Evaluating the potential exposure to lead and cadmium in baby products

Talc and Other Baby Products Metal Exposure Assessment

Under California’s Proposition 65 (Prop 65), businesses need to disclose if a product contains a significant amount of chemicals that may cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. A consumer products manufacturer received a Prop 65 complaint based on the detection of lead and cadmium in talc and other baby products they produced. Because the need for a listed warning is based on whether the presence of these metals would pose a risk to the consumer, the manufacturer asked our Health Sciences Advisory team to evaluate the potential for this.

Our scientists conducted a risk assessment that evaluated the likelihood that trace amounts of lead and cadmium in talc and zinc oxide ointment in baby products might penetrate the skin and produce an absorbed dose in excess of safe harbor levels. We found that the products in question did not result in exposures above those levels and, therefore, didn’t pose a risk to consumers.

In addition to demonstrating compliance with Prop 65, the manufacturer was also able to show the low health risk associated with its products from trace impurities.