Talc Use in Personal Care Poses Little Health Risk

When I was a little child, my mother used to sprinkle my body with talcum powder after having given me the bath. I loved its perfume, I enjoyed its being so impalpable, soft and lubricant while being dry. In later years, after a full day in the sun on the beach, I sprinkled talc on my shoulder to avoid the pain provoked by the rubbing of my sunburned skin against my bed’s sheets.

Talcum powder is made from talc, hydrous Magnesium Silicate: MgSi₄O₁₀(OH)₂. A snobbish German mineralogist who latinized his original name Georg Bauer into Georgius Agricola, described this mineral in 1546. And yet, talc had been known since ancient times and its name comes from the Persian word: “Talq,” a word that has possibly been introduced in Europe a few years later by Bernard Palissy, the potter famous for having never succeeded in reproducing Chinese porcelain.

As a powder, talc is a dry lubricant that is able to absorb moisture. It is useful for keeping skin dry and helping to prevent rashes. The Merck Index adds that talc is used alone or with starch or boric acid for medicinal and toilet preparations, as excipient and filler for pills, tablets and for dusting tablet molds. It is also used as shoe powder, as pigment in paints, as an electrical and thermal insulator as well as to dust latex gloves.

Talc Toxicology

Talc is widely used in cosmetic products such as baby powder and adult body and facial powders, as well as in many makeup products. Foundations, concealers, blushes, eye shadows, face powders, mascara, lipsticks, face masks and eyeliners often contain talc. Talc is also used by women in the perineal region to stay fresh and dry, as Gail Ingham is reported to have stated in a St. Louis, MO courtroom in 2018. Six weeks later a jury concluded that the talc powder she was using contained asbestos, a cancerogenic mineral, and awarded more than $4 billion (yes, billion) to her and the other 20 plaintiffs.

Talc is extremely friable and can therefore be inhaled. It is known that the chronic inhalation of particles leads to lung diseases, and talc inhalation has been known for decades to provoke bronchitis, dyspnea and emphysema in talc miners and industrial workers manufacturing talc-containing products. In its natural form, some talc contains asbestos, a substance known to cause lung cancer when inhaled. And indeed, when talking about whether or not talcum powder is linked to cancer, it is important to distinguish between talc that contains asbestos and talc that is asbestos-free.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that is part of the World Health Organization (WHO) has the goal to identify causes of cancer. It studies natural and industrial products, analyzes epidemiological data, considers results of animal experimentation and concludes on the carcinogenicity of products. In decreasing order of severity, its categories are: 1-Carcinogenic to humans, 2-Probably carcinogenic to humans, 3-Possibly carcinogenic to humans, 4-Not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans. In its extreme prudence, the IARC seems to view that everything is carcinogenic and that for many products we have not yet obtained the right evidence.

To give an idea of this prudence, I quote a sentence from a paper indicating that ¹

To go back to talc, the IARC classifies talc that contains asbestos as “Carcinogenic to humans.” Based on the lack of data from human studies and on limited data in lab animal studies, IARC classifies inhaled talc not containing asbestos as “Not classifiable as to carcinogenicity in humans.” Based on limited evidence from human studies of a link to ovarian cancer, IARC classifies the perineal use of talc-based body powder as “Possibly carcinogenic to humans.” That is to say that the IARC feels that the chances of getting ovarian cancer from applying talc around the vagina are smaller than the chances of getting cancer from eating red meat.

Conclusion

Talc that contains asbestos is generally accepted, and rightly so, as being able to cause cancer if it is inhaled. The evidence about asbestos-free talc is less clear. So, we are left with two questions:

• What are the chances that talc in a cosmetic product (makeup, mascara, lipstick, foundations and the like) be inhaled by the consumer?
• What are the chances that the topical application of talc provokes cancer?

It might be worthwhile noting how animal experimentation is performed: In a 1993 paper,² toxicology and carcinogenicity studies of talc (non-asbestiform, cosmetic grade), a finely powdered hydrous magnesium silicate, were conducted by exposing groups of F344/N rats to aerosols for 6 hours per day, 5 days per week for up to 113 weeks (males) or 122 weeks (females). Groups of B6C3F1 mice were exposed similarly for up to 104 weeks>

No consumer is exposed to cosmetic products in such a wild manner.

Both answers to the two questions above are: practically zero.

So, one could anticipate that the legislator might somehow intervene to protect miners and industrial workers at risk of inhaling talc, irrespective of the final use of the talc that is being prepared. If so, one can expect that the use of talc in cosmetic products might be reduced and eventually abandoned for reasonable reasons. On the other hand, prohibiting the use of talc in cosmetics because of the risk posed to the health of the consumer by the use of talc-containing products is simply preposterous. 

References:

1. Domingo JL, Nadal M. Carcinogenicity of consumption of red meat and processed meat: A review of scientific news since the IARC decision. Food Chem Toxicol. 2017 Jul;105:256-261. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2017.04.028. Epub 2017 Apr 24. PMID: 28450127.
2. National Toxicology Program. NTP Toxicology and Carcinogenesis Studies of Talc (CAS No. 14807-96-6)(Non-Asbestiform) in F344/N Rats and B6C3F1 Mice (Inhalation Studies). Natl Toxicol Program Tech Rep Ser. 1993 Sep;421:1-287. PMID: 12616290.

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Paolo Giacomoni, PhD
Insight Analysis Consulting
paologiac@gmail.com
516-769-6904

Paolo Giacomoni acts as an independent consultant to the skin care industry. He served as executive director of research at Estée Lauder and was head of the department of biology with L’Oréal. He has built a record of achievements through research on DNA damage and metabolic impairment induced by UV radiation as well as on the positive effects of vitamins and antioxidants. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and has more than 20 patents.