Risk from exposure to arylamines from consumer products and hair dyes.

Arylamines are widely used for the manufacturing of elastomers, colorants and consumer products. Furthermore they are part of many colorants either as contaminant or as cleavage product. Also many hair dyes are arylamines. Thus consumers are exposed from various sources and products, especially high exposure is contributed by tobacco smoke. Many of the arylamines and colorants derived from them are mutagenic and/or carcinogenic. In contrast, a considerable number of arylamines has been proven to be non hazardous. In other cases exposure was negligible. Insofar the risk due to exposure to arylamines from consumer products has to be assessed case by case considering the toxicological profile and the exposure for each individual substance and product.