Toxins found in SA shoes
Cape Town - An international environmental study has found high levels of toxins in South African shoes, which may cause serious long-term health problems.
In its study titled
"Chemicals - up close. Plastic shoes from all over the world", the
Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SNCC) found "disturbing concentrations" of harmful chemicals in a variety of plastic-based flip-flops, sandals, clogs, and other shoes tested from around the world, including four pairs of shoes purchased from well-known South African retailers.
The SSNC investigation was conducted in collaboration with six partner research organisations in the Philippines, India, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Indonesia.
Each organisation purchased shoes and then analysed them with regard to a number of chemicals that can cause environmental problems in the country where they are produced or where the shoes are worn and discarded.
In South Africa the partner organisation
GroundWork(SNCC) purchased four pairs of flip-flops from Woolworths, Pep, The Hub and Selfast.
Of the 27 shoes that were tested in total, the SNCC found high levels of
phthalates in 17 of these products.
Phthalates, chemicals used to soften polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic, are widely believed to cause health complications like infertility and testicular problems among men, endocrine disorders, birth problems, and even cancer.
The highest phthalate content, 23.2%, was found in a pair of flip-flops purchased from Woolworths.
According to the SNCC report, the shoe, manufactured in Brazil, consisted entirely of PVC, and the analysed DEHP value consequently applied to the entire shoe.
This value means that this pair of shoes contained a total of 76 grams of
DEHP, the report says.
Shoes containing lead
Furthermore, Selfast's kids' slipper tested positive for
arsenic,
cadmium,
chromium and
mercury, while the inner sole of the Pep shoe tested positive for DEHP as well as cadmium and chromium.
All four pairs of flip-flops contained
lead.
In fact, the Selfast slipper, which was also manufactured in South Africa, had the highest lead content at 2.220mg/kg.
This value is equivalent to 0.22% of the sole, which was the part of the shoe that was tested in this case.
According to the report, it is a massive 22 times above the EU Flower's eco-labelling criteria.
"This is remarkable bearing in mind the international commitment entered into at the UN's summit meeting on sustainable development in Johannesburg in 2002, which entailed phasing out sources of human exposure to lead, particularly exposure to children," the report says.
"This study clearly demonstrates that in South Africa and globally too few controls exist to protect the consumer from potentially toxic substances," says Rico Euripidou of GroundWork.
"More alarmingly these shoes are affordable to all South Africans. It is critical that the South African government and retail outlets take an urgent look at chemicals in everyday consumer products and start a process of evaluation and monitoring towards phase out of toxics in everyday consumer goods that are often discarded over short horizons - these also invariably pollute the natural environment."
However, similar alarming results have been found in the 13 other pairs of shoes from the other participating countries Sweden, India, the Philippines, Tanzania, Uganda and Indonesia.
'Same problems the world over'
Says Mikael Karlsson, the President of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation: "The investigation shows that it does not matter which country the shoes are produced or sold in - they contained more or less the same problematic substances.
"In other words, there are no guarantees that shoes purchased in Sweden or the Philippines are any better than shoes purchased in India or Tanzania, or vice versa.
"Neither does the price appear to be linked in any way to which hazardous substances are present in the shoes.
"Regardless of whether the worn out shoes end up in a landfill or are incinerated, it is difficult to prevent chemicals spreading in the environment. It is therefore important, both from an environmental and health perspective and from a working environment perspective, for the shoes to contain as few hazardous chemicals as possible.
The objective of the SNCC study was to encourage lawmakers to impose tighter regulations on "unsafe" products.
"The aim of the SSNC and the co-operation organisations is to use this investigation to get politicians to realise that tighter legislation is required in order to limit the use of chemicals that are harmful to health and the environment," says Karlsson.
So what can consumers do?
- Ask for PVC-free shoes when you buy plastic shoes, the SNCC advises.
- Buy second-hand shoes and give away shoes that you are no longer using.
- Wear your shoes for a long time, take them to a shoe repairer if they need to be mended, do not discard shoes unnecessarily and do not buy new shoes if you do not need them. This saves both money and the environment.
- When the shoes have to be discarded, ask your local refuse collection department where they should be discarded in order not to cause harm to health or the environment.
Demands on manufacturers and purchasers
- Demand that suppliers provide information about which chemicals are used in shoe manufacture and are present in the finished shoes.
- Do not purchase shoes that contain hazardous substances or if the manufacturer cannot provide any information on this matter.
