Consumer items which are in direct and permanent contact with the skin, such as bracelets , straps, watch cases, jewel buttons may cause irritations or allergic dermatitis. Some substances are known for their allergenic or toxical behaviour. It is therefore important to avoid the release of such substances under the effect of sweat, heat and corrosion.

Nickel is well known as an allergenic substance, with a lot of available studies on possible dermatitis resulting from its release. Several standards were developped for laboratory testing and several regulations published in respect to this specific issue. Nickel may be present in consumer items either as alloying element (such as in stainless steel, white gold, cupronickel…) or as a coating which can be intermediate or final coating onto a substrate.

Many other allergenic agents may exist in products which are in direct contact with the skin, such as :
 

Analysis of hexavalent chromium		n	Cobalt (alloys, coatings, colorants)
		n	Hexavalent Chromium Cr VI (leathers)
		n	Chlorinated phenols (CP, TCP) (leathers and synthetic materials)
		n	Formaldehyde (leathers, textiles, synthetic materials, paintings)
		n	Numerous organic allergenics which may be present in synthetic materials, glues, rubbers
		n	Azodyes (leather and textiles)

Because of their toxicity, other products should be avoided such as heavy metals and phthalates in polymers

Analysis diagram of
azo dyes by HPLC

Many standards and regulations provide a frame for testing as well as for risk reduction in respect with allergy and irritation :
 

n	European regulations 94/27/CE and 2004/96/CE about Nickel
n	SN EN 12472 standard : « Method for the simulation of wear and corrosion for the detection of nickel release from coated items »
n	SN EN 1811+A1 standard : « Reference test method for release of nickel from products intended to come into direct and prolonged contact with the skin »
n	SN EN 71-3 standard : « Safety for toys, part III, migration of certain elements »
n	European regulations 2002/61/EC and 2004/21/EC relative to azo dyes
n	Projects of EN and ISO standards for the determination of hexavalent chromium, PCP, TPC and formaldehyde in leathers
n	European regulations RoHS 2002/95/CE(cadmium, mercury, lead, hexavalent chromium,…)
n	Oeco-TEX 100 label
n	REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization of Chemicals) 2006/1907/EC

Furthermore, the workgroup WG 132 of the European Commission for Standardization (CEN) prepared some lists of substances with possible allergenics effects for which standards and analysis methods are under development.

List of the analyzed allergenics and toxics

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