Análise da presença dos metais cobre, alumínio, ferro e zinco em slime

Abstract

The slime or amoeba, a toy from the 80's and 90's, and which has returned to be a fever nowadays in everyday games, has a variety of cores and several tones that call the attention mainly of children. Metals through their pigments are widely used to assign cores in many toys, which are more commercially attractive.What is worrying is the incorrect use of these toys, which can lead to contact with the mouth and even ingestion, causing health problems due to the presence of metals. For model toys, such as slime, the agency responsible for its inspection is the National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO), which stipulates that they cannot present acute oral toxicity, dermal, primary eye irritation, oral mucosa irritation and microbiological contamination and in the chemical requirements limits of concentration for elements that can migrate. The present work aimed to analyze and quantify the presence of copper, aluminum, iron and zinc in slime samples. Twelve slime samples were acquired from the commerce of Campo Mourão – Paraná and submitted to analysis by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS). INMETRO does not stipulate minimum limits for the analyzed metals, which demonstrates a gap in INMETRO's ordinance. The results showed the presence of aluminum, zinc and copper metals. The analyzes showed that aluminum and copper metals had higher concentrations, the colors of the analyzed samples influenced the presence of these metals. Aluminum metal was found in higher concentrations in the blue and purple colors of slime samples, with concentrations ranging from 1.98 to 11.61 mg Kg­1 . Zinc metal was found in purple, pink and green samples and showed low concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.71 mg Kg­1 . The copper metal showed concentrations ranging from 0.04 to 1.83 mg Kg­1 , the presence of copper was detected in purple, pink and green samples.