Two locally branded shoes found toxic

TWO samples of branded leather shoes in the Philippines that were tested in laboratories in Sweden contain harmful toxicants, an international nongovernment organization revealed Thursday.

The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), Sweden’s biggest and oldest environmental organization, had tested 21 pairs of shoes for certain hazardous chemicals. Eleven pairs were purchased in Sweden and two pairs each came from South Africa, Uganda, Belarus, India and the Philippines.

With the help of the EcoWaste Coalition, an environmental group promoting consumer safety from toxic chemicals in the Philippines, two pairs of branded leather shoes from Bandolino and Rusty Lopez were purchased and sent to SSNC for analyses in Swedish laboratories Swerea IVF and Eurofins.

The SSNC said among the 21 pairs tested, one shoe sample from the Philippines, a Rusty Lopez dark brown leather shoe for men, ranked first in benzidine, cadmium and nickel; second in chromium, and third in arsenic and lead.

The other shoe sample from the Philippines, a Bandolino black boots for women, ranked first in cobalt, third in chromium and fourth in arsenic and mercury.

“The international product survey was conducted to increase awareness among producers, retailers, and consumers on what chemicals can be found in leather shoes, which are linked to the wide range of chemicals used in the tanning, preservation and dyeing of the leather, so that they can demand products free of problematic chemicals,” the SSNC said in a report.

Among the chemicals that were analyzed include metals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, mercury, nickel and zinc), carcinogenic aromatic amines from azo dyes, chlorinated phenols, ortho-phenylphenol, 2,4,6-tribromophenol, dimethylfumarate, formaldehyde and chlorinated paraffins.

Manny Calonzo, president of EcoWaste Coalition, said seven of the chemicals (arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, pentachlorophenol, and formaldehyde) are included on the priority list of chemicals in the Philippines.

“These are chemicals that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has ascertained as potentially posing unwarranted risks to public health, workplace and the environment,” Calonzo said.

He further said that the scientific investigation of SSNC, which found a cocktail of chemicals in the shoe samples, bought in six countries can put workers, consumers and the environment at risk during the entire life cycle of the shoes.

“For public safety and environmental health, we urge the authorities to enact and enforce policies that will prohibit dangerous chemicals in consumer products, especially those that can cause carcinogenic, hormone damaging and allergenic hazards, and promote safe substitutes,” he added.

The most serious finding of the study is that tons of trivalent chromium derived from the tanning of leather is spread into environment every year when the shoes are eventually disposed of as waste.

“The hexavalent chromium that has not been cleaned from the flue gasesis spread into the environment.
It can be breathed in, absorbed via the skin, pollute watercourses and cause harm to humans and other organisms,” said Andreas Prevodnik, SSNC project manager for the leather shoe study.

The study also revealed that two samples from the Philippines have contained 68mg per kilogram of benzidine, which is more than twice the acceptable limit of 30mg per kilogram stipulated under the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical Substances of the European Union. –IRA KAREN APANAY SENIOR REPORTER, Manila Times