Question from miatadriverchris
I constantly pride myself in purchasing “Made in USA” on all products I purchase. While purchasing less toxic products made here is sometimes difficult, I came across a boot from Red Wing shoes that stated the sole was made of PORON. The store has no idea.
(here is the exact link: http://www.canton.redwingshoestore.com/product/02245 )
I did some digging and found that PORON is urethane based, but couldn’t find any scientific data on it regarding what kind of urethane, if it off-gasses, leaches any specific chemicals, etc. Have you ever heard of this before?
Debra’s Answer
Here is the website of a manufacturer who makes PORON: Rogers Corporation PORON Urethanes. They have a link to a page with the MSDSs.
There are half a dozen different PORONs for different uses. You could take a look at this site to see the different types and then see if you can get more information from Red Wing about which PORON it is.
It looks to be not very toxic, but some are more toxic than others.
