Abstract
A prospective study was undertaken to analyse the lead concentrations in maternal and cord blood of 71 pregnant Arab women at term who used eye cosmetics, particularly "surma". A total of 64 mothers (90%) used eye cosmetics throughout pregnancy, and, of these, 45% used surma. The lead content of the cosmetics available in the market was found to vary between zero and 88%. The mean lead concentrations in all blood samples were higher than the accepted natural levels of 0·001 (μmol/1, but lower than the subtoxic level of 1·9 μmol/1. The mean lead concentration of all samples was lower than the subtoxic level of 1·9 μmol/1 but higher than that quoted in the literature and suggested to be a natural level (0·001 μmol/1). This indicates that other lead pollutants may be involved. Lead concentrations in maternal and cord blood correlated well, but did not show any significant difference between surma and non-surma users. None of the newborns showed apparent congenital anomalies and their birthweights were comparable to average Saudi birthweights.