1,4-Dioxane Chemistry, Uses, and Occurrence - Environmental Investigation and Remediation - page 91

TABLE 2.9
Partial Results for 1981 1,4-Dioxane Analyses in Single Samples of Personal Care Products

Cosmetic or
Sundry Product

1,4-Dioxane
Concentration (ppm) Manufacturer Brand Name

Shampoo Estée Lauder Azuree Natural Shampoo 66

Shampoo Aramis Aramis Malt Enriched Shampoo

Concentrate

279

Bath gel Ritz Group Jean Naté Bath Gel 36

Bath gel Peoples Drug Store Peoples Peach Concentrated Foam Bath 64

Foundation Cosmetic Sciences, Inc. Liquid Jojoba Foundation

ND (<0.5)

Foundation or cream Hasbro Industries, Inc. Fresh'n Fancy Red/White Mixing Cream

ND (<0.5)

Skin cleanser Winthrop Labs Phisoderm 140

Lotion Westwood Pharmaceuticals Keri Lotion for Hands, Face, Body ND ( < 0.5)

Lotion Miller-Morton Skin Quencher Hand and Body Lotion 30

Sources: FDA (1980, 1981; see also USEPA, 1989b, and Gelman Sciences, 1989c; the information presented here is from
the summary tables in the FDA interim update memo included on EPA's OPPT TSCA (Ofi ce of Pollution Prevention
and Toxics, and Toxic Substances Control Act) Web site (USEPA, 1989b).
Notes: ND not detected. These data, produced 25 years before this publication, have little bearing on the safety of similar

products produced today. All of the companies listed above and other companies producing similar products are regu-
lated by the FDA and must comply with an extensive set of health-based protective standards. Technology to avoid
formation of 1,4-dioxane and to strip any 1,4-dioxane and ethylene oxide formed during production before packaging
has been employed for more than a decade. The information presented here is of interest primarily for the study of
potential past modes of 1,4-dioxane introduction to the environment through discharge from septic tanks, leaking
sewer lines, and treated wastewater. For this publication, no laboratory test records or validated quality control records
for the analyses presented were inspected or verii ed.

=

the 1980s and 1990s. A 1979 review of Colgate Palmolive products found levels of 1,4-dioxane up
to 0.423 wt%; the permissible upper limit for by-products recommended by the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health at that time was 1%, or 10,000 ppm (Belanger, 1980). In 1986, an
analytical survey of German antidandruff shampoos for 1,4-dioxane found concentrations ranging
from 10 to 390 mg/kg; a 1990 follow-on survey found the same German antidandruff shampoos
free of 1,4-dioxane, a result that rel ected improvements to surfactant production methods
(Anonymous, 1987). However, a 1987 study of German personal care products including shampoos
and liquid soaps reported 1,4-dioxane present in 22 products at concentrations ranging from less
than 50 to 300 mg/kg. The same study found that 1,4-dioxane concentrations in German cosmetics
were generally below 100 mg/kg and more commonly below 10 mg/kg. Shower gels, bubble baths,
and hair care products containing alkyl ethers commonly contained up to 500 ppm 1,4-dioxane
(Rümenapp and Hild, 1987). In 1989, West Germany produced 227,000 metric tons of surfactants
in detergents and cleaners, of which 3 metric tons were estimated to be 1,4-dioxane, or a bulk con-
centration for all surfactant products of about 13 ppm.
A 1990 Danish study determined that 82% of the personal care products analyzed contained
from 0.3 to 96 ppm 1,4-dioxane. The same study showed that 85% of dish-washing detergents con-
tained from 1.8 to 65 ppm 1,4-dioxane. Of 76 products tested, four were in the range of 50-100 ppm;
27, from 20 to 50 ppm; 11, from 10 to 20 ppm; 22, from 0.3 to 10 ppm; and 12 did not detect
1,4-dioxane at a reporting limit of 0.3 ppm (Rastogi, 1990). A 1991 review found that 37 of 70
Japanese shampoos analyzed contained 1,4-dioxane greater than the study's 2 ppm detection threshold.
The average concentration was 9 ppm; the maximum, 67 ppm (Fox, 1993). A review of shampoos
in the U.S. market found 1,4-dioxane present in all the 12 shampoos containing ethoxylated surfac-
tants. The range was from 6 to 144 ppm (Italia and Nunes, 1991). A Polish study in 1998 found that