Survey and health assessment of cosmetic products ... - Miljøstyrelsen

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5.2 Database of the investigated cosmetic products
During this project, a database in Microsoft Access 2003 was developed
containing a total of 89 cosmetic products marketed as “non-preserved” or
“naturally-preserved”. The purpose of the database is to create an overview of
the products and their content of chemical substances in a relatively simple
way. Furthermore, it is possible by use of the database to sort the information
and to extract specific information of the entered data.
The database is built on a product overview where the following is recorded
for each product:
� Content of chemical substances
o Substance by INCI name
o The total number of ingredients/substances in the product
o The ranking order of the ingredients (e.g. if water is listed as
the first ingredient)
� Various information about the product
o Product name
o Product type (shampoo, lotion etc.)
o Purchase specifications (where the product has been
purchased and when)
o Batch number
o Shelf life
o Marketing specifications (marketing statement and marketing
category)
o Container descriptions
Appendix A (chapter 1) is an overview of the content of the database.
In the following, a more detailed description with information about the
registrations in the database of each of the above points is presented.
5.2.1 Chemical substances contained in the products
According to the Cosmetics Statutory Order (Stat. Ord. 422, 2006), the
ingredients of the cosmetic products have to be stated on the container with
their INCI name that is a common nomenclature for use in declarations of
contents of cosmetic products in the EU. An INCI name can cover several
different chemical units (INCI EU).
The ingredients shall be stated in order after descending weight. The order in
which the constituents are mentioned on the container is therefore an
indication of the quantity of the different constituents in the product.
For each product, information was entered into the database about the
ingredients of the cosmetic products but also in which order (ranking) the
ingredients are listed on the product. Thus, the ranking is an indication of the
relative concentration of the ingredients in the products. A low number (high
ranking) expresses that the substance is a main ingredient in the products
whereas a high number (low ranking) indicates that the substance is an
additive, for instance a preservative.
It shall be noted that in general it is not examined whether the products in fact
contain the chemical substances that are stated on the products. It is possible