Scott Echols

New ZDHC Platform to Provide 'Gateway' to Safer Chemicals in Textiles

Chemistry, Materials & Packaging / The issue of hazardous chemicals isn’t new in consumer products; the Romans knew lead was harmful over 2000 years ago. Scheele’s Green, a copper-arsenic-based pigment, was one of the first colourfast greens used for textiles in the early 1860s. However, as the picture below demonstrates, it didn't take long for the toxic effects of this pigment to become known. Something has to be going wrong if hundreds of years ago we knew arsenic and lead were hazardous, and today, we still have to communicate this to the value chain. - 6 years ago