Saudi Arabia 8 ° /o Iran 13% AVAILABILITY AND COMPOSITION OF "KOHLS" 115 f:="rance Morocco Dubai 2% 23/c 2% 0 Syna India 30°/o 201o Pakistan 41 ° /o Figure 2. Origins of the kohl samples listed in Tables I and II. was also present (at 5 % ), and in another sample (which was grey in color) cerussite had almost certainly been deliberately added, as it was present at 5 %. Thirteen of the samples were found to have amorphous carbon as their major phase. Two were powders and eleven greasy all were black in color. Additionally, three samples had amorphous carbon present as a minor phase. Three samples had (white) zincite (ZnO) as their major phase, with their black or grey-black colors deriving from the addition of amorphous carbon (one sample) or amorphous carbon and galena (two samples) as the minor phases. One sample had zincite as a minor phase, but at 5%. Four samples had one each of the following white/grey-white compounds/mixtures as its major phase: calcium carbonate (CaC0 3 , once as calcite only and once as a mixture of calcite and aragonite), talc (Mg 3 Si4O 10 (OH) 2 ), and sassolite (H 3 BO 3 ). The second and third of these four samples were colored black and grey-black respectively-from the presence of minor phases of graphite and magnetite (Fe3O4) in one sample and of galena in the other sample. Finally, two orange/red-orange powder samples were found to be based on mixtures of the iron compounds hematite (Fe2O3) and goethite (FeO(OH)). As already stated, the major phase listed in Tables I and II usually had a presence in the sample of �90%. However, for 8 of the 42 samples analyzed, the major phase listed was in fact less than 90% (where all percentages given below are estimates). One sample in Table II, "Khojati ® Surma Delux," had its major phase of zincite present at only 70%. Its minor phases were the two forms of calcium carbonate (calcite and aragonite) present at a total of 25%, with the remaining 5% covering the combined minor phases of amorphous carbon, quartz, and magnetite. Seven more such samples are present in Table I. The sample "Kohl Original Stone" was found to contain only 85% of the major phase (galena), its minor phases of cerussite plus anglesite having percentages of 10% and 5%, respectively. Both "Surma Noor-Ul-Ain" (the sample said to be "hot" by the shopkeeper) and "Hashmi Kajal" (in the form of a blue-colored pencil) had their major phases (zincite) at only 80% each, with minor phases of galena (16%) plus amorphous carbon (2%) plus quartz (2%), and galena (17%) plus amorphous carbon (3%), respectively.

116 JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE The other (i.e. "cold") "Surma Noor-Ul-Ain" sample had calcium carbonate in two forms (calcite and aragonite) as its major phase at a combined percentage of only 60%. Its minor phases were zincite (25%), with the remaining 15% covering the combined minor phases of kaolinite, graphite, magnetite, and quartz. The red/red-orange samples, "Hamid Al-Misk" and "Al Athmad," had major phases of goethite and hematite, re- spectively (each at 60% ), and minor phases (totalling the remaining 40%) of quartz plus hematite and quartz plus goethite, respectively. The last of these seven samples in Table I was "Nimco No. 96. Neem Ka Tez Surma (Special)," which had a combination of talc and dolomite (at a total of 87%) listed as the major phase(s) and a minor phase of galena (13%). Many of the 53 samples in Tables I and II originated in Pakistan (22) or India (16). The remainder came from Iran (7), Saudi Arabia (4), and Dubai, France, Morocco, and Syria supplying one each. Three of the samples from Iran, which had amorphous carbon as their major phases, unexpectedly had the mineral rutile (impure TiO2, often having a reddish coloration from the presence of small amounts of hematite) as a minor phase. DISCUSSION TOXICOLOGY OF LEAD Lead compounds are toxic by ingestion, inhalation, and skin exposure. Children are more susceptible than adults to lead intoxication. Adults absorb 5-15% of ingested lead while children can absorb as much as 41 % of ingested lead. The toxic effects of lead form a continuum from clinical or overt effects to more subtle ones (6). The critical effects in infants and children involve the nervous system. Blood lead levels once thought to be safe have been shown to be associated with intelligence quotient deficits, behavioral disorders, slowed growth, and impaired hearing (7 ,8). Blood lead levels in children that are greater than 10 µg/dl are now considered abnormal (9), and recently it has been shown that significant intellectual impairment occurs in young children who have blood lead levels below 10 µg/dl (5). Severe lead poisoning, resulting in encephalopathy, can result when blood lead levels are greater than 70 µg/dl. A recent report has demonstrated that young infants exposed to lower levels of lead following the use of traditional medicines can also present with encephalopathy (10). Reported cases of acute encephalopathy in infants that are directly linked to excessive use of a lead-based kohl are now fewer than several decades ago, but unfortunately do still occur (11). Frequently, mothers apply kohl to infants and children as a traditional measure to beautify and to protect the child from the "evil eye." Lead-containing kohls can be easily ingested by these infants, who may wipe their eyes and face, and subsequently lick their fingers. Earlier (animal) studies (12) have shown that trancorneal transport is not a significant contributory mechanism for absorption of lead from lead-based eye cosmetics. More than 90% of lead in blood resides in the red blood cells. The total body burden of lead can be divided into two kinetic pools, which have different rates of turnover. The largest pool is in the skeleton, which has a very slow turnover (a half life of more than 20 years) (9). The other pool is in the soft tissue, where it is much more labile. Lead in trabecular bone is more labile than in cortical bone, and trabecular bone has a shorter