The Nickel Directive was a
European Union directive
A directive is a legal act of the European Union that requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. Directives first have to be enacted into national law by member states before thei ...
regulating the use of
nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...
in jewellery and other products that come into contact with the skin. Since 1 June 2009, it has been subsumed into the
REACH Regulation
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is a European Union regulation dating from 18 December 2006. REACH addresses the production and use of chemical substances, and their potential impacts on both human he ...
, specifically item 27 of Annex XVII to that regulation. Nevertheless, the term Nickel Directive is still used to refer to the restrictions on nickel usage and the prescribed test method for quantifying nickel release from products EN 1811.
Allergy
Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...
to nickel is a common cause of
contact dermatitis
Contact dermatitis is a type of acute or chronic inflammation of the skin caused by exposure to chemical or physical agents. Symptoms of contact dermatitis can include itchy or dry skin, a red rash, bumps, blisters, or swelling. These rashes are ...
, with roughly 10% of the population in Western Europe and North America being sensitive to nickel.
[.][.] Initial sensitisation frequently occurs from jewellery such as ear studs and other body piercings,
and nickel allergy is more prevalent among women than men.
[.] Once sensitised, an individual can develop contact dermatitis from shorter term contact with nickel-containing products:
this is a particular problem given the use of nickel in coinage, such as the European
one- and
two-euro coins and the
Canadian five-cent piece. This led to moves by two European countries to prevent the initial sensitisation of jewellery wearers by limiting the use of nickel in piercing studs and other products which are in prolonged contact with the skin, and then to the European Union Nickel Directive in 1994.
The Nickel Directive imposes limits on the amount of nickel that may be released from jewellery and other products intended to come into direct and prolonged contact with the skin. These limits, known as migration limits, are:
*0.2 µg/cm
2/week for post assemblies which are inserted into pierced ears and other pierced parts of the human body;
[The original Nickel Directive imposed a limit on the amount of nickel which could be used in post assemblies ( mass fraction < 0.05%). This was modified to a migration limit in 2004.]
*0.5 µg/cm
2/week for other products intended to come into direct and prolonged contact with the skin.
Nickel release is measured by a test method known as EN 1811, which involves placing the object in an artificial sweat solution for one week, then measuring nickel by
atomic absorption spectroscopy
Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and atomic emission spectroscopy (AES) is a spectroanalytical procedure for the quantitative determination of chemical elemlight) by free atoms in the gaseous state. Atomic absorption spectroscopy is based o ...
or any other appropriate technique (e.g.
ICP-MS
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a type of mass spectrometry that uses an inductively coupled plasma to Ionization, ionize the sample. It atomizes the sample and creates atomic and small polyatomic ions, which are then dete ...
). Other, equivalent test methods may also be accepted.
[.] Wear and corrosion can be simulated by a method known as EN 12472.
Notes and references
Notes
References
{{reflist
European Union directives
Directive
Regulation of chemicals in the European Union