CES publishes paper to help industry quantify the residual amounts of D4 and D5 in Personal Care Products

“CES has recently published a paper with the title: “ Determination of cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes in personal care products by gas chromatography ”. The paper is intended to help stakeholders in the Personal Care industry to quantify the amounts of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) and decamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D5) that are present as residuals in personal care products (PCPs). Organosiloxanes such as D4 and D5 are in PCPs because they enhance the usage and application of these products, due to their unique properties. However, an accurate measurement of D4 and D5 levels in multi-ingredient matrices such as cosmetics is analytically complex.

Following an in-depth assessment by the UK and a review by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and its committees, EU Member States have recently adopted a REACH restriction allowing maximum 0.1% of D4 and D5 to be present in ‘wash-off’ cosmetic products such as shampoos and conditioners, which are discharged down the drain during consumer use. Complying with this restriction and enforcing it requires that reliable analytical methods are available for manufacturers and government agencies. This paper proposes a simple analytical method to enable accurate measurement of these substances down to the circa 0.1 weight percent level in PCPs. The paper is available following the link http://rdcu.be/uRBH.”

About CES – Silicones Europe: We are a non-profit trade organisation representing all major producers of silicones, silanes and siloxanes in Europe. CES is a sector group of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), which is both the forum and voice of the European chemicals industry. We provide health, safety and environmental information on silicones and are dedicated to the principles of Responsible Care. For more information, visit www.silicones.eu and follow us on Twitter @siliconesEU

For more information, please contact:
CES Manager, Evelyne Frauman // Email: efr@cefic.be // www.silicones.eu // @SiliconesEU