Cosmetics, nitrosamine contamination

The NO + 03 chemiluminescent reaction [Reactions (1-3)] is utilized in two commercially available GC detectors, the TEA detector, manufactured by Thermal Electric Corporation (Saddle Brook, NJ), and two nitrogen-selective detectors, manufactured by Thermal Electric Corporation and Antek Instruments, respectively. The TEA detector provides a highly sensitive and selective means of analyzing samples for A-nitrosamines, many of which are known carcinogens. These compounds can be found in such diverse matrices as foods, cosmetics, tobacco products, and environmental samples of soil and water. The TEA detector can also be used to quantify nitroaromatics. This class of compounds includes many explosives and various reactive intermediates used in the chemical industry [121]. Several nitroaromatics are known carcinogens, and are found as environmental contaminants. They have been repeatedly identified in organic aerosol particles, formed from the reaction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with atmospheric nitric acid at the particle surface [122-124], The TEA detector is extremely selective, which aids analyses in complex matrices, but also severely limits the number of potential applications for the detector [125-127],... 

Cosmetic manufacturers may use essentially any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient insofar as it is not considered as only a drug active ingredient, and market the product without approval. The law regulates only colour additives specifically approved for cosmetics and a few prohibited and restricted ingredients (e.g. bithionol, mercury compounds, vinyl chloride, halogenated salicylanilides). Cosmetics should not be contaminated with nitrosamines, 1,4-dioxane and pesticide residues, whose potential presence is regularly checked by the FDA (see Section 2.1). 

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