EU Safety Gate · Report-2010-45

L & S · Women’s trousers

The product poses a chemical risk because it contains Hexavalent Chromium, in concentrations varying from 1.6 to 14.1 mg/kg. Given that Oeko Tex Standard 100 states that, to ensure optimum quality, total chromium content should be less than 1 mg/kg for children’s clothing and less than 2 mg/kg for all other clothing, regardless of whether it is in contact with the skin, and that Chromium VI should actually be below the detection threshold, we feel a limit of 5 mg/kg of Chromium VI is a practical threshold beyond which there is a serious risk of allergic contact dermatitis. In support of this, there are clinical studies which indicate that, for leather goods, 50% of sensitive subjects experienced contact dermatitis at this level. By analogy, and given that these articles will be in direct contact with the skin for possibly an entire working day, we believe that they pose a serious risk of allergy to consumers.