Azocolorants in Textiles and Toys

This project shows that aromatic amines, which are suspected to be harmful to the health, can be released from textiles on the Danish market.

An evaluation of the contents of aromatic amines found in the analysis indicates that the risk of getting cancer from exposure to certain azo-dyed textiles is small, but existing. The risk of getting allergies against some of the azo dyes may be substantial, especially if the consumer does not launder the textiles before wearing them the first time.

The analysis shows the presence of aromatic amines which are included on the IARC list as well as in the German regulation, but it is also shown that several samples split off high amounts of amines which are on neither of the two lists.

The analysis shows that the detection limits are not the same for every one of the aromatic amines and some of the amines are particularly sensitive to the analysing system while others are not.

From an analytical consideration the assumed detection limit should therefore probably be 5 ppm to be sure to have a realistic overall detection limit for all amines. From a health point of view a detection limit at 5 ppm is, however, unacceptably high. There seems therefore to be a need for better analytical me­thods.

Alternatives to the azo-dyes giving off the offending aromatic amines could be sulphonated azo dyes, which do not seem to possess the same carcinogenic potential, and which also seem not to be en­vironmentally harmful.