Talc - Esther

 

Talc, chemically known as Hydrous Magnesium Silicate is a naturally occurring mineral mined from the Earth.[1] It’s one of the softest minerals having a Mohs hardness of 1 compared to diamond with a Mohs hardness of 10. While it’s commonly used as baby powder, Talc has many other uses; in the production of ceramics, paint, and cosmetics, making it a part of our everyday lives.[5] It’s also used for improving paper qualities, in chewing gum, candies, and in belts to provide softness and flexibility.[5] Talc is a good ingredient in makeup and personal care products to absorb moisture and grease, prevent caking, improve consistency, or to make a product more opaque.[4] 

So, what properties make Talc so useful? It’s composed of microscopic platelets, and the bonds holding said platelets together are very weak which enables the platelets to slide by one another resulting in the soft greasy feel of Talc.[3] And what properties make it not as safe? Because Talc is found in such close proximity to Asbestos, which is also a naturally occurring silicate mineral, there is potential for contamination of Talc with Asbestos so it’s important that Talc is mined carefully and sufficiently.

According to Health Canada, Talc may be harmful to your lungs when breathed in and may cause ovarian cancer.[5] However, it poses no risks from external contact with your skin, exposure from food or ingesting products containing talc. It’s also not harmful to the environment.

Did you know?

Baby powder was at the centre of thousands of lawsuits for its connection to ovarian cancer. In May 2020, Johnson & Johnson announced that it will stop selling talc-based body powder.[2]

References

[1] Johnson & Johnson. (2016, Feb). The Facts About Talc Safety.

https://www.jnj.com/our-products/the-facts-about-talc-safety#:~:text=Talc%20is%20a%20hig

hly%20stable,from%20asbestos%20and%20asbestiform%20fibers.

[2] Hsu T & Rabin R. C. (2021, July). Johnson & Johnson to End Talc-Based Baby Powder

Sales in North America.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/19/business/johnson-baby-powder-sales-stopped.html

[3] U.S Geological Survey Publications Warehouse. Industrial Minerals of the United States

U.S. Talc—Baby Powder and Much More.

https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-0065-00/fs-0065-00textonly.pdf

[4] U.S Food & Drug Administration. (2022, Dec). Talc.

https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-ingredients/talc

[5] Government of Canada. (2021, April). Talc.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/chemicals-product-safety/talc.html#shr-pg0