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Survey and Health Assessment of Possible Health Hazardous Compounds in Proofing Sprays 3 Survey3.1 Introduction3.1.1 ObjectiveThe objective of the survey was to:
The investigation of which products within the category exist in the market has been the condition for the further assessment of the products. 3.1.2 DelimitationAs described in chapter 1, a wide range of proofing agents are sold directly to the consumers as agents for restorative treatment of various types of textiles primarily to achieve water and stain repellency. The Danish Environment Protection Agency chose to focus on the product category spray agents[4] for textile proofing. That means, that textile proofing agents to be used when washing textiles or intended for application on textiles have not been included in the project. 3.1.3 ProcedureThe following activities form part of the survey (including purchase of products):
The survey has aimed at including expensive as well as inexpensive products. It has not been possible through Statistics Denmark to carry out a quantitative survey of the consumption of textile proofing sprays. Skat (Danish Tax and Customs Administration) has informed that there is no KN code[5] that solely deals with these products. 3.2 PurchaseThe part of the survey dealing with purchase of products comprised:
Products were purchased for textile proofing within the product groups:
The main selection criteria for purchase of products have been that the products have to be sold to a certain degree. It has especially been possible to use that criterion when visiting physical shops and the staff was asked which products are “best selling” but it has not been possible to use that criterion in connection with internet trade. 3.2.1 Internet search and tradeSearches mainly took place through Google.dk with the word combination textile proofing and spray. In addition, homepages registered in catalogues, daily papers and magazines have been visited. 3.2.1.1 Contact to distributorsIn the light of the internet searches, a number of the companies behind the internet shops, selling spray agents for textile proofing, have been contacted. Contact to distributors/importers concerned information about substances (safety data sheets) in each product and enquiries about amounts sold. The far majority of the distributors/importors have sent information about the substances in the form of safety data sheets whereas the request for information about amounts sold has been met to a very limited degree and therefore it is not possible to estimate total sales/consumption in Denmark of the product type ”Spray products for textile proofing”. 3.2.2 Shop visitsA wide range of shops have been visited, including:
When visiting shops, it was asked which products are sold the most and also to which degree the customers ask for directions when purchasing the products. Only few of the visited shops said that the consumers ask for directions when purchasing the products and those few cases the requests for directions mainly concerned which product was the ”best”. 3.3 ProductsAll products were purchased through national chain of shops or on the internet. The survey resulted in the registration of 26 products, of them 5 on the internet. Some of the specialist shops (e.g. the furniture dealers and shoe shops) typically only sell one product, while other shops (e.g. chemist’s shops, sports goods shops, DIY centres etc.) in some cases sell several products. In the latter case, it was asked which products are best selling and mainly those products were the ones that were purchased. Regarding contact to importers, several importers have said that ”private labelling” is used to a certain degree within the product category, meaning that the dealers import (or purchase from an importer) identical products and then give the products different names. 3.3.1 Product outlineTable 3.1 states the declared substances in each product of the registered spray agents for textile proofing. The information partly originates from the packaging and partly from the safety data sheets (MSDS) of the individual product. Table 3.1 Outline of products. Information originates from packaging and safety data sheets, respectively.
* Error in the supplier manual, the right marking is stated. 3.3.2 Legislative conditionsConsumer products intended for textile proofing have to follow the ordinary rules in accordance with Regulation no. 329 dated 16 May 2002 of the Danish Ministry of the Environment concerning classification, packaging, marking, sale and storage of chemical substances and products (Danish Environmental Protection Agency). If the products contain substances that are included in the list of hazardous substances in Regulation no. 923 dated 28 September 2005 of the Danish Ministry of the Environment they have to be marked in accordance with the classifications in the regulation (Danish Environmental Protection Agency, 2007). In addition, there might be a prohibition against use in aerosol cans (AE marking). Furthermore, new obligations have been imposed on companies that produce, import, use or distribute chemical substances and products in connection with the implementation of the EU chemical regulation REACH ((EC) No. 1907/2006). REACH came into force on 1 June 2007, but will be implemented gradually in the course of 15 years. REACH i.a. imposes producers and importers to register chemical substances and in that connection to report data about the properties of the substances to a central chemical agency. In addition, producers and importers of substances requiring a safety data sheet have to give detailed information to their customers about how the substances can be handled properly. Finally, propellants and solvents in products intended for textile proofing and sold in aerosol cans have to be in accordance with regulation no. 571 dated 29 November 1984 concerning the use of propellants and solvents in aerosol cans (Danish Environmental Protection Agency). Aerosol cans are defined as cans with a volume of max. 1.0 litre, containing a liquid or nebulized gas intended for discharge through a device so the content is emptied in the form of solid or liquid aerosols or as foam. Only propellants and solvents stated in enclosure 1 of the regulation are allowed in concentrations exceeding 1%, unless they are comprised by other legislation. In this connection, all chemical substances contained in aerosol cans with a boiling point below 168ºC (Danish Environmental Protection Agency) are characterised as propellants or solvents. As this regulation is old, the positive list in enclosure 1 does contain substances that no longer are allowed in spray cans due to other legislation. That goes for substances with AE marking in the list of hazardous substances and substances that are controlled via the regulation on certain ozone layer destroying substances. In special cases, where neither health related nor environmental conditions speak against it, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency can allow the rules of the regulation to be departed from. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency has to deal with requests concerning deviations from the rules in the course of 45 days. Footnotes[4] With and without propellant, respectively [5] The KN code is an 8 digit product code number (KN ~ combined nomenclature)
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