Extensive use of chromium (Cr) in leather tanning poses a potential dermal exposure risk to consumers from carcinogenic chromate (CrVI) in leather products. To enable rapid screening, we analyzed 470 commercial genuine leather products from 7 countries using a calibrated portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (pXRF). Measurements revealed exceptionally high total Cr, with 93% of samples exceeding 10,000 mg kg–1 and the highest being 60,200 mg kg–1. A positive correlation was found between product price and total Cr content (R2 = 0.65), indicating higher Cr levels in luxury full-grain leathers. To assess potential risk to humans, we quantified bioaccessible Cr in artificial sweat extracts using pXRF (474–4460 mg kg–1), achieving excellent agreement with ICP-OES data. Critically, the bioaccessible Cr pool showed a strong correlation with the CrVI content based on ICP-MS (R2 = 0.77). Leveraging this correlation, we established a pXRF-based risk threshold of 1000 mg kg–1 of bioaccessible Cr in sweat extract. This threshold can be used as a proxy for identifying leather products likely exceeding the regulatory limit of 3 mg kg–1 CrVI. This work transforms pXRF into a validated tool for rapid, risk-based screening of leather products, helping to monitor and mitigate Cr exposure from global leather consumer market.
Liu et al. (Sun,) studied this question.