Nothing to Hide: Why tanners use chrome

摘要

Tanning agents based on chromium have been in widespread use in the leather industry for more than a century and, because the chromium in the compounds tanners use is in the trivalent state, this threatens no harm to workers or wearers of leather. As Dr Dietrich Tegtmeyer, vice-president of the International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies (IULTCS), makes clear in this eighth essay in the Nothing to Hide series, the presence of harmful hexavalent chromium can be avoided if tanners and leather chemicals manufacturers treat the materials they use with due care and attention. The same author will cover in detail the specific issues surrounding hexavalent chromium in essay number nine.