Concentration of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K radionuclides in natural products commonly used as cosmetics materials

International Conference on Atomic and Nuclear Physics

November 17-18, 2016 Atlanta, USA

Jamilah Al-zahrani

King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Astrophys Aerospace Technol

Abstract :

Natural cosmetics containing plant extracts and minerals are commonly used all over the Arab regions by applying directly to the human skin and hair in order, to clean, improve or change the appearance of them. So, these materials should be safe for health, especially the increasing sale and use of natural cosmetics without available censorship in the presence of dangerous metals or codified instructions. Common natural product samples used as cosmetic materials were collected from various markets in Saudi Arabia, analyzed by using a high purity germanium detector (HPGe) to determine radioactivity concentrations of the natural radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K and to assess the risk present in these materials to human health. The obtained concentrations for 226Ra and 232Th ranged from 0.65�±0.17 to 6.47�±1.07 and from 0.34�±0.11 to 8.54�±1.16 Bq kg-1, respectively, while the concentration of 40K ranged from 10.62�±0.35 to 1202.84�±15.95 Bq kg-1, with overall mean values of 2.72, 3.73 and 444.09 Bq kg-1 respectively. The mean values of radium equivalent, absorbed dose rate and the annual effective dose of the samples under study were determined as 42.25 Bqkg-1, 22.58 nGyh-1 and 0.028 mSvy-1, respectively. This work would be useful for establishing baseline data on the gamma background radiation levels in the studied samples for assessment the radiation exposures to the population. It was found that the present results are lower than the permitted limits (UNSEAR2000) and the studied natural samples products are safe to the human usage as cosmetic materials.

Biography :

Email: jam7474@hotmail.com