Author, as appears in the article.: Herrero M; González N; Rovira J; Marquès M; Domingo JL; Nadal M
Department: Ciències Mèdiques Bàsiques
URV's Author/s: Domingo Roig, José Luis / Gonzalez Paradell, Nieves / Herrero Casado, Marta / Marquès Bueno, Montserrat / Nadal Lomas, Martí / Rovira Solano, Joaquim
Keywords: Textiles Risk assessment Pregnant women Formaldehyde Dermal absorption Contact allergens Children textiles skin risk assessment release pregnant women metals dermal absorption children care air
Abstract: Clothes contain a wide range of chemicals, some of them potentially hazardous. Recently, there has been a growing interest in eco-friendly clothing, including the use of organic cotton. How-ever, the process of eco-friendly fabric production does not exclude the use of toxic substances, such as formaldehyde, a known human carcinogen. The present investigation was aimed at determining the presence of formaldehyde in eco-friendly and conventional clothing of pregnant women, babies, and toddlers from the Catalan (Spain) market. The potential effects of washing were also investigated by comparing the reduction of formaldehyde in unwashed and washed clothing. Formaldehyde was detected in 20% of samples, with a mean level of 8.96 mg/kg. Formaldehyde levels were surprisingly higher in eco-friendly than in regular garments (10.4 vs. 8.23 mg/kg). However, these differences were only significant (p < 0.05) for bras (11.6 vs. 7.46 mg/kg) and panties (27.1 vs. 6.38 mg/kg) of pregnant women. Dermal exposure and health risks were assessed for three vulnerable population groups: pregnant women, babies, and toddlers. In general, exposure was higher in babies (up to 1.11×10−3 mg/kg/day) than in other groups (2.58×10−4 and 4.50×10−3 mg/kg/day in pregnant women and toddlers, respectively). However, both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were below the safety limits (<1 and < 10−5, respectively) according to national regulations. Notwith-standing, although formaldehyde levels were below the legal limits (< 75 mg/kg) and health risks were within acceptable ranges, clothing may contain other toxic substances in addition to formal-dehyde, thus increasing the risks. Finally, since no formaldehyde was detected in washed textile samples, a safe and simple practice for the consumers is to wash clothing before the first use.
Thematic Areas: Toxicology Health, toxicology and mutagenesis Environmental sciences Chemical health and safety
licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
Author's mail: nieves.gonzalez@urv.cat joaquim.rovira@urv.cat marta.herrero@estudiants.urv.cat marta.herrero@estudiants.urv.cat joseluis.domingo@urv.cat marti.nadal@urv.cat
Author identifier: 0000-0003-4134-016X 0000-0003-4399-6138 0000-0001-6647-9470 0000-0002-0217-4827
Record's date: 2024-09-07
Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Link to the original source: https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/10/7/361
Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
Papper original source: Toxics. 10 (7):
APA: Herrero M; González N; Rovira J; Marquès M; Domingo JL; Nadal M (2022). Early-Life Exposure to Formaldehyde through Clothing. Toxics, 10(7), -. DOI: 10.3390/toxics10070361
Article's DOI: 10.3390/toxics10070361
Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Journal publication year: 2022
Publication Type: Journal Publications
Repositori URV