Abstract Seven cosmetic-pharmaceutical talcum powders from different commercial brands, currently for sale in Spanish pharmacies, have been studied in order to determine their mineral and pharmacopoeia quality. Four samples met the required conditions to be classified both of “cosmetic quality” and “pharmacopoeia quality”. These conditions are: absence of potentially carcinogenic minerals, talc purity of more than 90%, low levels of toxic elements and suitable compositional levels of Al, Mg and Ca. The remaining three samples were classified as of “industrial quality”. Although these are free from fibrous minerals, the high carbonate content, specifically dolomite (close to 40%) and calcite (about 10%), impacts on the purity in talc by significantly reducing its quantity to the point that the material no longer satisfies many of the compositional tests of the European Pharmacopoeia. The detailed microanalysis with SEM-EDX and size measurements of elongated particles present in the samples showed them to be harmless as their mineral composition is talc and they appear in very low proportions. The SEM-EDX study highlighted the properties for which talcum powder has classically been employed for topical cutaneous use. The comparison of the current results with those of the Spanish market of talcum powder sold in pharmacies in the decade of the 1980s resulted in three principal findings. First, the fibrous minerals have disappeared. In the past, a significant number of samples showed evidence of amphiboles. Second, the purity in talc in samples of cosmetic quality has improved from 94% to 96%. Finally, in the 1980s there were no samples in the Spanish market with talc purity as low as today (60%). Dolomite is currently present in excessive quantities in some talcum powders.

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西班牙化妆品制药滑石粉的质量

摘要 目前在西班牙药店销售的来自不同商业品牌的七种化妆品-药物滑石粉已被研究，以确定它们的矿物质和药典质量。4个样品同时满足“化妆品质量”和“药典质量”两个分类条件。这些条件是：不存在潜在致癌矿物，滑石纯度超过 90%，有毒元素含量低，Al、Mg 和 Ca 的成分含量合适。其余三个样品被归类为“工业质量”。虽然这些不含纤维矿物，但碳酸盐含量高，特别是白云石（接近 40%）和方解石（约 10%），通过显着减少滑石粉的数量，使材料不再满足欧洲药典的许多成分测试，从而影响滑石粉的纯度。使用 SEM-EDX 进行的详细微量分析和样品中存在的细长颗粒的尺寸测量表明它们是无害的，因为它们的矿物成分是滑石并且它们的比例非常低。SEM-EDX 研究强调了滑石粉通常用于局部皮肤使用的特性。将当前结果与 1980 年代十年间在药店销售的西班牙滑石粉市场的结果进行比较，得出了三个主要发现。首先，纤维状矿物质消失了。过去，大量样本显示了角闪石的证据。第二，化妆品质量样品中滑石的纯度从94%提高到96%。最后，在 1980 年代，西班牙市场上还没有滑石纯度低于今天 (60%) 的样品。目前，一些滑石粉中含有过量的白云石。