EU Intends To Increase Six Price Chromium Control Provisions For Leather And Other Products

"P" reporter learned from the global chemical regulatory advisory body Hangzhou Rui Xu, not long ago, the European Commission has issued a circular on the six price chromium draft to the WTO (WTO). The draft intends to increase the control clauses of all a skin href= //www.sjfzxm.com/news/ index_c.asp "leather products" /a, which is expected to be published in the EU official communiqu at the end of this year or early next year. < /p >
< p > according to Liu Shuang, technical director of Rui Xu consumer product testing project department, leather is a high-risk product. The production process is plagued by chemical residues. The toxicity of six valent chromium is 100 times higher than trivalent chromium. It is easy to be absorbed by human body and accumulated in the body. Therefore, enterprises should strictly control the quality safety. < /p >
< p > < strong > six, the valence chromium mostly occurs in tanning leather < /strong > < /p >.
The toxicity of < p > chromium is related to its valence state. < a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/news/index_c.asp" > six valence chromium < /a > 100 times higher than trivalent chromium toxicity, and is easy to be absorbed by human body and accumulated in the body. As many leather products are directly exposed to the human body, the six valent chromium residue in leather easily enters the body with sweat through the skin, causing ulcers or allergic reactions, or absorption through the respiratory tract, causing damage to the stomach and liver and kidneys, or even to the eye, resulting in hemorrhage of the retina and atrophy of the optic nerve. < /p >
< p > according to Liu Shuang, 80% of the leather produced in the world is chrome tanned. The purpose is to make leather products have better strength, handle, heat and humidity resistance and elasticity. Although the chrome tanning agent used in tanning leather is trivalent chromium, it is generally believed that the six valence chromium originates from the oxidation of low valent chromium, so even if the six valent chromium can not be detected in the chromium powder used, the leather produced may still contain six valent chromium. < /p >
< p > > a href= "//www.sjfzxm.com/pioneer/" > Liu Shuang < /a > said that the production of six valent chromium in leather may also be the use of chromium powder, chrome tanning agent and chromium containing auxiliary agent which contains six valence chromium or over six chromium in leather production, such as chromium salt dyes, pigment paste, fixative, medium water and so on. In the production process, the high pH value of the bath liquid during the leather making process, the fatliquoring agent (or grease), heating and lighting, and the relative humidity of the air during the storage of the green leather are the important reasons for inducing the formation of six valent chromium. < /p >
< p > according to the draft of the EU's six price chromium draft provided by Rui Xu, the draft is different from the previous proposal of Denmark. In the Danish proposal, the control of six valent chromium in leather is limited to products that are directly or permanently exposed to the skin. In this draft, it shows that all leather products that can be exposed to the skin will be subject to control, and the secondhand products will also be related to management and control. It is also stipulated that the leather products with contact with the skin should not be put on the market when the six valence chromium concentration is more than equal to 3mg/kg (0.0003%). < /p >
< p > Liu Shuang believes that for domestic leather manufacturing enterprises, the content of the six valent chromium content less than 3ppm in the draft is a very difficult level. It is suggested that the domestic leather production enterprises should grasp the source, carry out six valent chromium test on chrome powder, chrome tanning agent and chromium salt auxiliary used in leather making, avoid the high toxic residue of six valent chromium; two, control the production process, adjust the tanning process, and dry and other procedures to avoid sunlight operation as far as possible, provide good transportation and preservation conditions, prevent the trivalent chromium from being oxidized to six valent chromium in the production process. Three, we must strictly control the quality and safety, increase the intensity of technological input, study the advanced production processes of auxiliary substitute materials in leather manufacturing, and improve the weakness of domestic tannery industry in process manufacturing. < /p >
< p > < strong > existing labels lack intrinsic information < /strong > /p >
< p > the report of the European Commission shows that consumers want to know about the origin of products, the methods of care and the size of electronic labels in addition to their knowledge of product components. According to the report's conclusion, most of the labels are "self-evident" and are familiar with consumers, but lack of concern about the intrinsic information of leather textiles. Meanwhile, leather products also need to introduce some new labels. < /p >
< p > Liu Shuang said that the implementation of leather label regulations can benefit consumers, but the word "leather" is lacking in most EU countries. According to incomplete statistics, 15% to 20% of leather products sold in the EU are not made from animal skins. Therefore, the introduction of a voluntary leather label system is the best policy to deal with the above problems. < /p >
< p > for the leather label, the report sets out policy directions in some areas, such as animal species labels, labels of origin, environmental and social statements, but the report does not recommend the industry to adopt. It also points out that the European Commission will carry out the evaluation work and decide whether to recommend action at the European Union level based on the assessment results. Liu Shuang said Rui Xu is paying attention to this dynamic development. < /p >
< p > according to Liu Shuang, six valent chromium may cause allergic dermatitis. Even a very low amount may cause dermatitis. Among them, shoes and other leather products are most likely to cause contact dermatitis among producers and consumers. However, there is a causal relationship between anaphylaxis and application and residues in leather textile products. Allergy research indicates that no conclusion has been reached. There are still uncertainties in the actual release, concentration or upper limit. < /p >