The official jerseys of the teams taking part in Euro 2012 such as Poland, Spain, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, France, Holland and Portugal contain excess levels of chemicals, according to the The European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC).
Six of the teams mentioned above contained ‘lead’ which went past the legal limit for children’s products, while ‘nickel’ was found in the Portuguese and Dutch jerseys.
The Polish jerseys contained so much toxic that the BEUC demanded them to be banned altogether.
A BEUC statement read: “Host country Poland’s shirt should be banned outright from shops as it contains an organotin compound, used to prevent sweat odour, in higher doses than the legal limit. Organotin can be toxic to the nervous system.”
Spanish and Italian jerseys possessed ‘Nonylphenol’, which is a chemical that has a harmful effect on the environment.
BEUC director-general Monique Goyens said: “Football fans pay up to €90 (£73) for the shirt of their favourite team. The least they should expect is to have a quality and safe product.
“It is inexplicable that heavy metals are used in mass consumer products. It is clearly foul play by manufacturers to use substances harmful to both people and the environment.
“Our members’ test results are a sad reminder that Europe’s chemicals legislation is unfit for the purpose of banning dangerous substances from consumer products.”
BEUC has called for a review of the current EU chemicals legislation so that the toxic elements in such jerseys can be eliminated.
0 votes
