Sadaf

Despite all these facts, however, surprisingly it has been stated by certain school of thoughts due to unknown reasons that Kohl (Surma) is or might be injurious to health due to the absorption of lead from eyes.

I have incorporated enough matter on the subject which can help a common man & women to understand the situation. Kohl (Surma) does not absorb through transcorneal route as it is practically insoluble in aqueous medium of the eye. Further, the alkaline nature of lachrymal restricts it’s dissociation and the positive intra-occular pressure further prevents the absorption or penitration. Thus the so-called Lead Toxicity due to application of Kohl (Surma) is not possible.

The sub-headings 5.1.4 Ocular (Inorganic Lead)
Authors, Grainne Cullen, Alison Dines & Stoyko Kolev

” Lead sulphide (from the eye cosmetic surma) has caused minute conjunctival abrasions but no toxic injury to the eye ” – Statement released by the National Poisons Information Services (London Centre), Medical Toxicology Unit, Guy’s & St Thomas Hospital Trust, London – Monograph For UKPID – Lead (UK PID) page # 15 (March 1996).

In my opinion, even the minute conjuntival abrasion is not possible if good quality Kohl (Surma) is used. Further, the dose which is applied into the eyes at one time is also very small and if quantified, it will be in microgram, irrespective of the high content of Galena (Lead sulphide) present in the whole container. I would urge here not to link the missuse Kohl (Surma) with it’s toxicity cause. Even missuse of water can lead to death. Thus based on this we can not stop using or storing water in our house.

Scientifically, I would classify the action and properties of Kohl into three different directions or catigories:
1. Ad

The study while warning of a few producers was done in 1991, the government is involved in blocking *all* traditional kohl imported into the US and Canada.

As far as what they are putting in with it, I would (on my part) assume that Hashmi Aswad, which is in this business, one of the largest producers of kohl, has a website, responds to emails, and has safety studies available would be far less likely to subtitute iron ore than, say, no name brands which use the same packaging as Hashmi Aswad.

The english, of course, was not good, but it is a Pakistan based company.

AllahuAlim.

I have to point out / question that it wasn’t all kohl / kajal that they were warning about but two or three specific producers. Someone brought me kohl that has the same exact packaging as the producers that were singled out, but it’s made in Saudi Arabia by a totally different company — and this is a type of kohl that I have seen many times in stores in NJ and wherever.

Maybe I need to have more trust in Muslims, but I personally can’t put it beyond people to produce something made out of burnt iron ore and all the other stuff that’s supposedly being done and then calling it “kohl” as if it is the same as the burnt nuts and seeds. This kind of stuff happens all the time in the Muslim world — why wouldn’t it happen with kohl? Shoot, a few months ago you had people selling arsenic tainted water to fellow Muslims claiming it was ZamZam water.

I would like to say that I felt reassured by the letter from one of the producers that has been singled out, but the fact is that I find the English pretty much incoherent, on top of the technical terms they used. So my opinion hasn’t changed at all. I will just avoid those companies if I need to buy this stuff in the future.

I sent my husband out to pick up a few new sticks for me out of fear that our wacky government will ban it and I won’t be able to get anymore, LOL. It is a sunnah I prefer to keep, inshaAllah!

Honestly, I don’t mean for this to sound conspiracy-minded, but I cannot help but to wonder if the well-meaning health workers just thought it was easier to blame immigrant mothers for their children’s health and jump on something they are unfamiliar with as being the culprit. That is certainly easier than getting after the slum lords of the apartments many immigrants live in that contain lead based paint, or old neighborhoods where the paint chips have absorbed into the soil that the kids play in. Those are the two most common ways kids get lead poisoning, but it is alot more work to go after a landlord than an “ignorant” mother.

One of my grandsons suffered from lead poisoning, the full effects of which we will not know for a few more years when he starts school. Our Health Department nurses turned on my step-daughter for this and insisted that she needed to move out of the house they rented. She and her sister took their boys and moved to a much nicer, but considerably more expensive apartment that they cannot afford without the help of both their parents and the fathers of the babies. But before they were able to move, they were both threatened by Child Protective Services as being negligent. And yet not one word was addressed to the landlord of the house, who they had been fighting with for about a year to get to pay for things being repainted. Some other poor children are probably contracting lead poisoning as we speak because the landlord was not forced to do anything about it.

Now, knowing as much as we do about lead poisoning, it is ridiculous to try to blame a small product that is used externally rather than to properly address the real causes.

Jazaaka Allaahu khairan