Chemical and radiological characterization of clay minerals used in pharmaceutics and cosmetics

Since the early days, clays have been used for therapeutic purposes. Nowadays, they are used as active ingredients or as excipient in formulations for a variety of purposes. Despite their wide use, little information is available in literature on their content of trace elements and radionuclides. The purpose of this study was to determine the elements (As, Ba, Br, Cs, Co, Cr, Eu, Fe, Hf, Hg, La, Lu, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Yb, Zn, and Zr) and the radionuclides (U-238, Th-232, Ra-226, Ra-228, Pb-210 and K-40) in Brazilian clays as well as the health and radiological implications of the use of these clays in pharmaceutical formulations. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.