Lanxess offers reassurance on silicone-based leather chemicals
19/11/2018
Some of the silicone-based products marketed by Lanxess for the manufacture of leather contain trace amounts of cyclosiloxanes, but the company has described this as “unavoidable raw material residue”.
Dr Martin Kleban of the Lanxess leather business unit has said: “Given the maximum concentration in the chemical formulation and the amount of product applied in leather manufacture, it is highly unlikely that the reporting threshold of 0.1% of cyclosiloxane in leather will be exceeded if the chemical formulation is used according to our recommendation.”
In June 2018, the ECHA included the chemicals D4 (octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane), D5 (decamethylcyclopentasiloxane) and D6 (dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane) on the EU REACH candidate list for substances of very high concern. The notification requirement for substances, mixtures or articles containing D4, D5 or D6 has been set at a concentration of 0.1%.
“In many cases, silicone-based products contain unavoidable amounts of D4, D5 and D6, and these substances are not intended components of the product,” Dr Kleban continued. “In our opinion, polymer silicones can be used safely, if they are used as intended. Furthermore, in our experience, they represent an economic, sustainable and safe chemical product class. After all, we want to offer our customers safe, high-quality products.”
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