Cancer, hormone disorders – dangerous chemicals in many summer shoes

Finger away from cheap products in online retail! Because the risk of maintaining goods with dangerous chemicals is many times higher, the organization warns 2000 worldwide. In general, plastic must be avoided because it often contains SVHC. “Use your nose and do not buy products that smell strong” because this is a clear indication that dangerous chemicals are included.

In fact, 19 models with dangerous chemicals, known as the substance of very high care (SVHC), were loaded in the current test of Global 2000 and the Upper Austria Chamber of Labor. Two should not have been sold in Europe. The app “scan4chem” can help. Here you can quickly ask manufacturers and dealers if a product contains SVHC. “Scan as many products as possible to show the company that we consumers: want secure products inside!”, Global 2000 shouted.

The SVHC, which are considered particularly worrying in accordance with the European Chemical Regulation (reach), may have carcinogenic, hormonal, reproductive or genetic changing properties. There were no SVHC in eleven of the test shoes. However, there were traces of lead in eight samples, which are considered potentially carcinogenic and harmful to reproductive.

Cheap Flip-Flops with 42 percent plasticizers
Negative leaders were Flip-Flops that were ordered from a Chinese online retailer. They contain 42 percent plasticizers, many of which are harmful to reproduction and have an impact on our hormone balance – with serious health consequences. The EU limit for these fabrics was exceeded 420 times in the shoes. “Plasticizers from these shoes are absorbed by skin or countries in house dust and from there go into our lungs. They are even detected in the urine of children, partly in considerable concentrations. Such shoes are prohibited and may not be worn,” warns Dominik Linhard, head of the worldwide 2000.

The second product that should not be sold were sandals from the range of a German fashion -retailer who, in addition to lead, had a capacity of Chrom VI (9.2 mg/kg) above the 3 mg/kg limit. With 119.99 euros, they were the most expensive alternative in the test, while the careful Flip-Flops were among the cheapest products with 5.41 euros.

Lead in eight rehearsals
Lead was found in more than a quarter of the shoes surveyed. “The quantities found, however, were under the limit, when there is constant recognition, even the smallest quantities in the body and can lead to chronic poisoning over time. That is why there is even caution in small quantities,” explains Linhard.

Global 2000 demand that companies have to replace SVHC with safe alternatives as quickly as possible. Clear prohibitions are needed for particularly hazardous substances – such as hormonally effective or carcinogenic chemicals without safe threshold. In addition, the Organization for Environmental Protection calls for rapid identification and the inclusion of potentially very worrying substances on the list of candidates, transparency along the Supply Chain, stronger control and clear responsibilities, as well as the right to information.