DETERMINATION OF HEAVY METALS IN FOREIGN AND LOCALLY MADE ORGANIC SOAP

Organic soap products are commonly used by millions of consumers on a daily basis. The objective of this research was to determine the heavy metal level in foreign and locally made organic soap, to appraise the health risk associated with exposure to the metals in organic soap and to provide pivotal information related with the health risks associated with the prolonged use of these organic soap products. The term heavy metals is commonly used to describe a group of dense metals usually associated with environmental pollution or toxicity. For this study, four metals were analyzed namely: mercury (Hg), Lead (Pb), Cadium (Cd) and Arsenic (As). The analysis for heavy metals was carried out using flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) with hollow cathode lamp. Heavy metals were detected in all the samples. Yori Yori organic soap, cottage fresh organic soap and JRA organic black soap had <0.001 in mercury level. Lead was 2.82 in Yori Yori organic soap, 3.28 in cottage fresh and 3.49 in JRA soap. The level of cadium in Yori Yori was 1.15, 1.17 in cottage fresh and 1.22 in JRA soap. And Arsenic in Yori Yori had the value of 1.45, CFOS was 1.80 while JRA soap was 1.63. all the heavy metals were within the permissible limit of WHO except Cadium that is above the acceptable limit and the continual use of these soap can pose the user to health risk via the accumulation of the heavy metals.