Since asbestos is an associated mineral of talc, asbestos may be contained in talc powder. Asbestos fiber inhaled into the lung will cause asbestosis, lung cancer and other malignant diseases, talc used for cosmetic production must be tested without asbestos components can be used. The presence of asbestos in talc is usually determined by a combination of polarisation or electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The quantitative analysis of asbestos mainly uses X-ray diffraction method. The content of asbestos in baby talcum powder was determined by XRD.

              XRD pattern of three baby powder samples.

The three talcum powder samples were mainly composed of mica, quartz and organic matter. Among them, no characteristic peak of asbestos was found in sample 1#, and characteristic peak of asbestos appeared in samples 2# and 3#, which is iron asbestos. In order to further determine the asbestos content in samples 2# and 3#, a calibration curve for the quantitative analysis of asbestos was produced (Fig 2).

Fig2 Using the calibration curve, the content of asbestos in 2# and 3# samples was determined to be 0.05% and 0.18%, respectively.

                          Fig 3 XRD patterns of 2# and 3# filter membrane samples

Asbestos in baby powder was determined by XRD. No asbestos was detected in sample 1#, and the content of asbestos in samples 2# and 3# was 0.05% and 0.18%, respectively