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Does wearing leather jacket affects our health?

Hh121

Banned
Messages
3,004
Probably dumb question to ask, but this is something I wanna ask for long time since I owned my first leather jacket.

Does wearing leather jacket affects our health?
The leather like horween cxl has strong smell or aroma , and it remains years. I remembered few years back my first Indy jacket made by Wested has a strong chemical smell that I have to return it. The leather jacket I have are all chrome tanned.

Thanks
 

sweetfights

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3,231
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Canada
There will not be any double blind studies on the topic but I understand your concern about off gassing.
I would not be concerned at all about cxl. Most of the odor is simply from the leather.
Of bigger concern would be off gassing from products around the typical home; cleaning products, plastics, new appliances like dryers being used for the first time, rubber, gasoline while filling your vehicle etc.
Some of the planets most deadly chemicals give off zero odors. Odors are not a reliable indicator of health threat.
I hope this helps.
 

sweetfights

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Canada
I just searched and here’s an article I found on leather and carcinogen (cancerous toxin):

https://gizmodo.com/how-leather-is-slowly-killing-the-people-and-places-tha-1572678618

It seems CXL is heavily linked to cancer in people who work in tanning factories.





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The work environment is different from the off gassing from wearing our typical cxl jackets.
In the chrome tanning work environment the exposure to carcinogens is large because of the time/concentration factors.
The final product off gassing is different from the manufacturing exposures.
 

Powerband

Practically Family
Messages
840
The work environment is different from the off gassing from wearing our typical cxl jackets.
In the chrome tanning work environment the exposure to carcinogens is large because of the time/concentration factors.
The final product off gassing is different from the manufacturing exposures.

Of course, agreed. The evidence is limited to workers in tanneries, specifically those with tanning practices in developing countries. All the more reason to avoid cheap mall jackets.




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Hh121

Banned
Messages
3,004
There will not be any double blind studies on the topic but I understand your concern about off gassing.
I would not be concerned at all about cxl. Most of the odor is simply from the leather.
Of bigger concern would be off gassing from products around the typical home; cleaning products, plastics, new appliances like dryers being used for the first time, rubber, gasoline while filling your vehicle etc.
Some of the planets most deadly chemicals give off zero odors. Odors are not a reliable indicator of health threat.
I hope this helps.

Thank you. Yes, my concern is off gassing, the chemical stuff in leather slowly evaporate in our home, we inhale the smell or whatever in the leather will doing something negative to health. Like when we have renowned home with new furniture, usually what we do is open the window and let the stuff evaporate for months(if it’s possible), and we move in.
There is still no concrete scientific evidence shown using or wearing leather products danger to our health.
 

Powerband

Practically Family
Messages
840
Right—there’s no controlled study for everyday Leather and toxic effects, which would be too hard to do and there’s little monetary reason any scientist would get funded for this. Keep in mind one general principle: the toxin is in the dosage. It’s good practice to air-out furniture or items that give off strong gas, even if no current evidence exists to support such motivation. Returning a jacket because the gas is so strong? That’s personal choice and I wouldn’t blame you for doing so.




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Guppy

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4,286
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Cleveland, OH
Who knows? I certainly don't. But there's probably a lot of other things that I would worry about more, first. Leather has been used by humans for thousands of years, and while the process and chemicals have changed in that time, I think if there were a link to cancer, it'd have had time to be well established by now. Maybe there's some risk, but it's probably on the order of eating charbroiled meat, if that.
 
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10,392
Location
vancouver, canada
I recently retired from a career as a Field Tech for an engineering company specializing in indoor air quality (IAQ). Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's) were an item we tested for regularly. I often tested new office space replete with new everything including paint. The good news is that even though the odour could be strong it does not mean the presence of a high amount of the VOC. Today's furniture, carpet, paint etc gives off some but not much, certainly not like a few decades back. So that while there may be odour the actual readings I would register would generally be low. Manufacturing is doing such a good job these days of eliminating the compounds in their manufacturing that produce VOC's. Usually the only time I would register a reading above the guidelines would be when the carpet was being glued in place or the cove mouldings glued. And while that odour would remain for a while the active VOC gasses off within hours.

Now as we all have differing tolerance levels to odours to some people even a slight VOC odour can produce symptoms, most often headaches and a general sense of unease. VOC's if not noxious are certainly obnoxious!
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
24,789
Location
London, UK
Of course, agreed. The evidence is limited to workers in tanneries, specifically those with tanning practices in developing countries. All the more reason to avoid cheap mall jackets.

I know this has been a concern raised in the past about production in countries such as Pakistan where the workforce may not have the same level of protection as would be expected in, say, Horween's plant in Chicago. Treatment of the workforce is certainly something worth bearing in mind when buying anything - wherever they are based in the world.
 

sweetfights

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3,231
Location
Canada
Of course, agreed. The evidence is limited to workers in tanneries, specifically those with tanning practices in developing countries. All the more reason to avoid cheap mall jackets.




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Yes! No cheapo jackets for me.
High end all the way!
I explain to my wife I am only thinking of our health. ;)
 

Bfd70

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,049
Location
Traverse city
I think the most likely negative health effect occurs by way of leather jackets increasing your coolness by a substantial margin. Increases in coolness have been shown to drastically increase the number of potential mates one can have. This increase in potential (at least a factor of 10x) increases the likelihood that some of those mates would be of questionable character, thus exposing the leather jacket wearer to an increase in the likelihood of social disease exposure. This is pretty well documented and refered to as “The happy days effect.”
 

Harris HTM

One Too Many
Messages
1,802
Location
the Netherlands
Three years ago I was for a long weekend in Edinburgh. The last day I had my relatively new CXL FQHH 30's HB on the whole day. It was quite warm so I sweated on it. That same evening on the airport, while passing the security checks without my jacket on, the alarm started ringing; the scan showed "dangerous substances" in my belly; so an officer rubbed a tissue on my belly and had it checked "for explosives" as he said.
 

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