Hazardous chemicals are chemicals that are known to pose serious hazards to human and environmental health. These may include, but are not limited to: substances that are carcinogenic; mutagenic; toxic for reproduction; those that cause allergic skin and respiratory reactions; endocrine disrupting chemicals; as well as substances that are persistent, bio accumulative or toxic when released into the aquatic systems and the environment.(1) All stages of textile production rely heavily on chemical use. The most common hazardous chemicals used in textile manufacturing, during the pre-treatment, dyeing, printing and finishing stages, include solvents, surfactants, water and soil repellents, biocides and pesticides, dyes/pigments, flame retardants, plasticizers and pigments.(1,2) For example, a policy recommendation report by the Swedish Chemicals Agency compiled a non-exhaustive list of 1900 chemicals used in textile production, of which 165 were identified as hazardous under EU legislation(3).(1-5)
HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS
