Rovira, Nadal, Schuhmacher, and Domingo measured 28 elements in 37 skin-contact garments bought in Reus and Tarragona, and the share that moved into acidic artificial sweat. Six bodysuits and five pajamas are baby clothes. The rest are T-shirts, blouses, socks, and underwear. Arsenic, mercury, chromium, and tin in this paper are totals from ICP-MS. They are not inorganic arsenic, methylmercury, hexavalent chromium, or organotin.
Key numbers
Table 3 is mg of element per kg of textile (n = 37). Table 4 is mg of element migrated per kg of textile into acidic artificial sweat. For statistics, a non-detect was set to one half of the limit of detection, so a printed mean can include that substitution. Minima below detection are kept as printed.
| Element | Content, percent detected | Content mean | Content maximum | Sweat, percent detected | Sweat mean | Sweat maximum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al | 100 | 28.5 | 351 | 32 | 2.52 | 30.6 |
| tAs | 0 | below 0.10 | below 0.10 | 0 | below 0.10 | below 0.10 |
| Cd | 5 | 0.01 | 0.07 | 0 | below 0.03 | below 0.03 |
| Cr (total) | 32 | 45.7 | 754 | 11 | 0.17 | 0.97 |
| tHg | 0 | below 0.10 | below 0.10 | 0 | below 0.10 | below 0.10 |
| Ni | 19 | 0.16 | 1.79 | 22 | 0.07 | 0.24 |
| Pb | 43 | 0.16 | 1.90 | 92 | 0.02 | 0.22 |
| Sb | 35 | 26.0 | 152 | 22 | 0.37 | 5.67 |
| Sn (total) | 24 | 0.05 | 0.29 | 3 | 0.03 | 0.14 |
Content standard deviations and medians are in Table 3 and in the evidence register. Lead content: SD 0.37, median 0.01, minimum below 0.03, maximum 1.90 mg/kg. Antimony content: SD 45.3, median 0.05, minimum below 0.10, maximum 152 mg/kg.
Dark polyamide or viscose items 12, 15, and 22 (blouses, socks, and underwear) had total chromium of 377, 552, and 754 mg/kg. Other materials, or light polyamide, were from below 0.25 to 1.17 mg/kg. Chromium migration from the dark items was 0.1 to 0.2 percent. Yellow polyester T-shirt No. 1 had cobalt of 20.4 mg/kg, against below 0.05 to 4.21 mg/kg in the remaining items. Cobalt was not detected in any sweat. Cotton and spandex underwear No. 23 (93:7, multicolor) had copper of 439 mg/kg.
Antimony in 100 percent polyester was 57.7 to 152 mg/kg. Clothes with some polyester were 45.2 to 87.0 mg/kg. Other materials were below 0.10 to 4.10 mg/kg, with one named exception: sample No. 35, a 100 percent cotton pajama. The concentration for that exception is not printed after the page break, so it is not entered. Antimony migration was 0.3 to 3.7 percent.
The abstract says zinc of 186 to 5749 mg/kg in T-shirts labeled with zinc pyrithione. The body gives elemental zinc in the three labeled items (socks No. 17, polyester T-shirts No. 2 and No. 4) as 1185, 38, and 55 mg/kg. Table 3 maximum zinc is 1185 mg/kg. The authors then say that if all elemental zinc came from zinc pyrithione, the levels would be 5749, 186, and 267 mg/kg for items 17, 2, and 4. The 5749 figure is that calculation, for socks, not elemental zinc in a T-shirt. Both sets are kept, labeled.
Titanium maximum was 37.8 mg/kg in polyester T-shirt No. 3, labeled as containing an ultraviolet filter. Sweat titanium was below detection except sample 10, a dark blue polyester blouse, at 1.28 mg/kg (migration 7.1 percent). Titanium particles were from below 100 to 600 nm. Silver was found in four samples (3, 5, 8, and 18), from 0.13 mg/kg in a black cotton T-shirt (No. 8) to 0.57 mg/kg in cotton and polyester socks.
The mean hazard quotient for antimony in polyester for adults was 0.4, and one polyester T-shirt had a hazard quotient above 1. Dermal exposure in the model ran from 9.6 x 10^-10 mg/(kg day) for thallium in men to 1.3 x 10^-3 mg/(kg day) for zinc. The penetration factor Fpen of 0.01 (0.03 for arsenic) is an assumed parameter, not a measurement.
The prose says every garment met Oeko-Tex, and that polyester samples 1, 10, 16, and 20 exceeded a Tox-Proof extractable antimony limit of 1.0 mg/kg. The rest of Table 5 is a two-column layout whose remaining cells are not assigned here.
Methods (brief)
Purchases in stores and supermarkets in two Catalan cities. Total elements by ICP-MS after digestion (Perkin Elmer Elan 6000). Acidic artificial sweat, 24 hours at 37 °C, pH 5.5. Limits of detection: 0.03 mg/kg for Bi, Cd, Fe, Pb, Tl, and Zn; 0.05 mg/kg for Ag, Be, Co, Cu, Mn, Mo, Sm, Sn, and Sr; 0.10 mg/kg for As, Hg, Mg, Ni, Sb, and Sc; 0.25 mg/kg for Ba, Cr, Se, and V; 0.50 mg/kg for Al and B; 1.00 mg/kg for Ti. Spinach reference-material recovery was 83 to 112 percent for Al and B. Non-detects were replaced by half the limit of detection for the statistics.
Evidence fitness
Tables 3 and 4 support total-element content and acidic-sweat migration for these 37 garments. They do not support a speciated arsenic, mercury, chromium, or tin result. Migration into sweat is not a dermal absorption fraction. The hazard quotients use assumed penetration factors.
Limitations
Thirty-seven convenience purchases in two cities are not a national market. Means that include half-LOD substitution are not the same statistic as a detected-only mean. Table 3 prints a selenium minimum below 0.50 mg/kg while the methods limit of detection for selenium is 0.25 mg/kg. Table 3 prints a magnesium minimum below 1.00 mg/kg while the methods magnesium limit is 0.10 mg/kg. Table 4 prints an iron minimum below 0.01 mg/kg while the content iron limit is 0.03 mg/kg. Sample 35 antimony is named and not quantified in the text after the break. Cited ranges from other papers are not this study’s measurements.
Related evidence
- Clothing (onesies, pajamas, outerwear)
- Antimony
- Lead
- Chromium
- Nickel
- An assessment of the genetic toxicology of antimony trioxide
Update history
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