Benzene Testing Services

Global expertise, personal touch

Benzene is a chemical solvent that becomes an environmental pollutant due to its release into the air. It is used commonly in the automobile industry, but also by companies that manufacture dyes, plastics, detergents, drugs, pesticides, and other organic chemicals for industrial use such as styrene, phenol, cyclohexane, aniline and more. The primary use of benzene in the U.S. is ethylbenzene. This substance is naturally found in coal tar, but is used to create paint, pesticides, and ink.

Benzene is known to cause cancer in humans according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Numerous studies have confirmed that exposure to benzene whether through inhalation, skin absorption, ingestion, skin or eye contact poses significant health hazards.

A non-exhaustive list of cosmetics and personal care products and their materials where benzene is found:

Sunscreens and suncare products
Hand sanitizer
Spray deodorants and antiperspirants
Dry shampoo and conditioner sprays
Aerosols
Nail polish

Solvents and colorants
Hair dyes
Shampoos and conditioners
Skin creams and lotions
perfumes and fragrances
Makeup and cosmetics

Legislation:

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), recognizes the serious dangers of benzene and lists it as a ‘Class 1 solvent’ that should not be used in standard pharmaceutical production.
In Canada, sunscreens are classified as non-prescription drugs or natural health products, depending on their active ingredients. They are regulated under the Food and Drugs Act and its Regulations. The USP limit required for benzene is not more than 2ppm. It is important for people to practice sun protection especially in the summer months and equally important to have peace of mind that the products they use are safe.
In Europe, benzene is a prohibited substance according to the European Regulation No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products. According to the European Regulation No 1907/2006 (REACH), benzene shall not be used in toys or parts of toys where the concentration of benzene is greater than 5 mg/kg (0.0005 %) of the weight of the toy or part of toy.

Our offer:

At Eurofins Cosmetic and Personal Care Testing in Canada, our team can help you with benzene testing to ensure that your product is of high quality, safe for end-users, and compliant with health and safety regulations. We use validated methods developed in-house and approved by FDA and DAkkS to detect benzene. Our laboratory can offer testing for all your cosmetic products not limited to sunscreens, after-sun products, and disinfectants (for household use only). Our team can also work with you to review your product's formulation to ensure it is safe and compliant.

We are testing benzene in aerosols by 2 techniques:

For most liquid aerosols
For gas & highly volatile products

Puncturing can, transferring sample into secondary container, degassing and weighingsample (~ 1g ) into volumetric flask à suitable for most liquid aerosols (water-based oralcohol-based sunscreens, air freasheners, other other not highly volatile products,some gels and some stable mousse products.

Attaching a new actuator with long narrow tube to the spraying nozzle of the aerosol,initiating the pump, then weighing sample directly into flask with solvent, immersing thetube tip into solvent. Sample is taken by Weight by difference (primed container initialweight – container weight after sample was taken, typically ~1g-3g). Suitable to gas and highly volatile products, like dry shampoos, hair sprays, acetone-based airfresheners, some unstable mousse products that expand too much.