Review and safety evaluation of ingredients in certified skin care products on the Slovenian market

Ponudba kozmetičnih izdelkov je zelo bogata in raznovrstna, vsak posamezen izdelek pa lahko še dodatno opredelimo, glede na oznako, ki jo nosi. Oznake standarda so običajno zagotovilo pomembnih lastnosti posameznega kozmetičnega izdelka, katere potrjujemo s certificiranjem. Certificiranje izdelkov uporabnikom omogoča dober vpogled v sestavo, sestavine, izdelavo, pakiranje in lastnosti uporabljenih tkanin, saj morajo izdelki slediti vsem zahtevam izbranega standarda. Prav te zahteve pa so tiste, po katerih se standardi med seboj razlikujejo. Cilj magistrske naloge je bila raziskava slovenskega tržišča s kozmetičnimi izdelki, preko katere smo želeli ovrednotiti najpogostejše certifikate, ki se pojavljajo in jih med seboj primerjati. Poleg certifikatov smo želeli raziskati manj varne sestavine, ki so prisotne v izbranih izdelkih in ovrednotiti kakšen vpliv imajo na ceno kozmetičnih izdelkov. Osredotočili smo se na kreme za nego telesa, ki so certificirane kot naravne ali organske in so prisotne na slovenskem trgu. S pomočjo seznama INCI sestavin posameznega izdelka in kozmetične baze Skin Deep® pa smo podrobneje raziskali manj varne sestavine. Vsem manj varnim dišavam in konzervansom smo dodelili oceno zaskrbljenosti in oceno razpoložljivosti podatkov in raziskali, kako pogosto se nahajajo v izdelkih glede na dodeljen certifikat in ceno. Tekom raziskave smo potrdili, da je na slovenskem tržišču prisotnih več certificiranih izdelkov tujih proizvajalcev, da imata standarda Cosmos in NaTrue med seboj podobne zahteve za certificiranje in da imata slovenska standarda v primerjavi z njima nižje oz. milejše zahteve. V nalogi smo obravnavali 30 izdelkov in potrdili, da je njihova cena odvisna od mnogih parametrov, med drugim od števila manj varnih sestavin, ocene nevarnosti glede na EWG klasifikacijo, države izvora blagovne znamke in standarda, po katerem so certificirani. Glede na zbrane podatke smo ugotovili, da je cena izdelkov, ki vsebujejo več manj varnih sestavin, nižja od izdelkov, ki jih vsebujejo manj, da imajo izdelki slovenskih proizvajalcev v povprečju višje cene v primerjavi s tujimi ter da je cena izdelkov, ki vsebujejo večje število dišav, nižja od tistih, ki jih vsebujejo manj. Slovenski trg ponuja raznolike kozmetične izdelke, od najbolj kakovostnih do tistih malo manj. Rezultati naše raziskave kažejo, da so izdelki, ki jih ponuja naš trg, varni ne glede na to ali so certificirani ali ne, vseeno pa uporabniku ravno posamezna oznaka na izdelku dodatno zagotavlja in dokazuje, da je izdelek res tak, kot se oglašuje.The range of cosmetic products is very rich and diverse. Each individual product can be further defined according to the label it bears. Labels are usually an indicator of the important characteristics of an individual product, which can be defined by certification. Product certification gives users a good insight into the composition, ingredients, manufacturing process, packaging and properties of the used fabrics, as the products must follow all the requirements of a certain standard. It is because of these requirements, however, that the standards differ. The aim of our master’s thesis was to research the cosmetic products on Slovenian market, through which we wanted to evaluate the most common certificates, that appear among them and compare them with each other. We also wanted to research the less safe ingredients, present in the researched products and evaluate what impact they have on their price. We focused on body creams that are certified as natural or organic and are present on the Slovenian market. We also researched less safe ingredients in details with the help of the INCI list of product’s ingredients and Skin Deep® cosmetic database. We also assigned EWG\u27s rating factors (hazard and data availability) to the less safe fragrances and preservatives, found in the selected products and researched how often are these ingridients found in products, based on their certificate and price. During our research, we confirmed that products from foreign manufacturers are more often present on the Slovenian market, that Cosmos and NaTrue standards have similar certification requirements and that the Slovenian standards have lower or milder requirements. As for the products themselves, we confirmed that their price depends on many parameters, including the number of less-safe ingredients, hazard assessment according to EWG classification, country of origin of the brand and the standard by which they are certified. According to the collected data we proved that products containing more less-safe ingredients have lower price than products containing less of them. We also proved that products of Slovenian manufacturers, on average have higher prices compared to foreign ones and that the price of product containing a greater number of fragrances is lower than the price of product containing less of them. Slovenian market offers a variety of cosmetic products, from the highest to the lesser quality. The results of our research show that the products offered by our market are safe regardless of whether they are certified or not. However, only the individual label on the product additionally guarantees the user that the product is as advertised