How Far Should the Clothing Go?

Event Replay: 14 brands infected with "environmental hormones"

On August 23, Greenpeace, the international environmental protection organization, released the report "Poison in the Clothing - A Survey of the Poisonous and Harmful Substances in Global Brand Clothing". The report states that Adidas, Nike, Youngor, Li Ning, Converse, Uniqlo and Metters The products of 14 famous domestic and foreign apparel brands such as Bangwei contain “environmental hormone” NPE. Medical experiments show that the degradation product NP of this substance, namely nonylphenol, may lead to precocious puberty, and to a certain extent will inhibit males. The development of signs.

According to the survey report, from April to May this year, green organizations sampled 18 samples of 15 clothing brands in 18 countries including China, the United Kingdom, and Argentina. The origins of these samples involved China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, etc. 13 a textile producer. Greenpeace sent the samples to qualified third-party laboratories for testing. After testing by third-party laboratories, 14 of the brands were found to have problems. Of the 78 samples, 52 contained NPE, which involved Adidas, Li Ning and other well-known brands of products.

Among the samples containing NPE, NPE brands containing more than 500 mg per kilogram include Li Ning, AF, Nike, and Youngor. Among them, an AF denim shorts with an NPE content as high as 1100 mg/kg, and Younger's NPE content of a sweatshirt For 530 mg/kg, Nike's two T-shirts reached 810 mg/kg and 660 mg/kg, respectively. Among all spot-check products, the NPE content of a T-shirt produced in the Philippines is as high as 27,000 mg/kg.

What is NPE?

NPE Chinese name is nonylphenol polyoxyethylene ether. It is widely used in the textile industry for printing, dyeing and cleaning processes. It is often used as a surfactant. A paper published in the "China Environmental Science" magazine pointed out that NPE and its degradation products are irritating to the eyes and have a hormonal effect on the environment. NPE discharged into the environment will decompose to nonylphenol (NP), a recognized environmental hormone. Relevant scholars stated that NPE itself is not a dangerous product and will not directly harm the human body. However, NPE formed under certain conditions is harmful to the human body. It can stimulate simulated estrogen and is persistent and bioaccumulative. It has an impact on the biological development of the organism and therefore interferes with the endocrine of the organism and is toxic to the reproductive system. At the same time, NP may also continuously attack organisms through the food chain. Studies have shown that even low levels of NP emissions can be harmful to humans.

Due to concerns about its safety, some countries and regions have banned the use of NPE for 20 years.

Some companies have responded to reports that companies have responded to Greenpeace’s report. Hummer responded positively by saying that all toxic and hazardous substances in its supply chain will be phased out by 2020 and an open plan of action will be formulated in the near future. The Nike Group also issued a statement a few days ago that due to the potential environmental impact of NPE, Nike has included it in the latest list of restricted items and production restricted items.

Li Ning and Adidas expressed that they did not deny that their products contained toxic substances but still stressed that NPE concentration was below the target value. Li Ning said to the outside world that on July 22nd, they sent the sampled products to international authoritative testing organizations SGS and CTI for NPE content testing, and the inspection results all met the EU REACH standards. Li Ning Company believes that the samples tested by Greenpeace in the investigation report are all in conformity with the EU REACH standards.

Greenpeace believes that Li Ning's products comply with the EU's "REACH Regulation" is a misunderstanding of the regulation. In Appendix 17 of the REACH Regulation, it is clearly stated that chemical preparations with a concentration of NPE greater than 0.1% may not be used in the textile production process, that is, chemical products intentionally added with NPE may not be used in textile production. The limit of 0.1% (1000 mg/kg) is not for the final product but for the chemical reagents used in the production. In the investigation, NPE was detected on the four garments of the Li-Ning brand, and one of the concentrations was as high as 680 mg/kg. This shows that NPE, a toxic and harmful substance, was used and discharged during the production process of Li Ning garments and caused pollution to rivers in China.

Different domestic and foreign export product standards, the new national standard urgently to be introduced At present, many consumers do not seem to know, most of the customers who buy clothes have expressed that they do not know that Adidas, Li Ning and other sportswear brands are suspected of exceeding the suspects. Some shopping mall staff said that because they did not receive relevant notices, the products sold in shopping malls are now also in line with national standards, so they will continue to be sold, and overall sales seem to have not been affected.

According to relevant reports, at present, China does not restrict NPE in the national standard of apparel production. Therefore, it is necessary to examine and remove the possible problems of Adi and Li Ning. In developed countries and regions, the use of NPE has been limited. In the “Regulations on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals” issued by the EU in December 2006, the use of NPE and NP in the textile production industry is explicitly prohibited. However, among the 100 or more surface water organic pollutants in China, no NP has been listed yet. The Greenpeace survey report also showed that most of the manufacturers of garments with harmful residual substances are in developing countries such as China, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Thailand.

Some experts said that because higher standards will definitely bring higher costs, for many manufacturers, as long as they can meet standards, the lower the cost, the better. In fact, this is not just clothing, including toys and bottles. The most important thing to solve this problem is to raise the national standard. Youngor and other companies also expressed the hope that relevant departments in China will issue management standards for NPE and its chemical agents.

In addition to expecting relevant departments to introduce new national standards as soon as possible, apparel companies, especially well-known brands, also need to set an example, pay attention to the company's own awareness of environmental protection, and formulate relevant non-toxic production systems. Zhang Kai also stated that he hopes that the company will adopt a non-toxic principle to make a timetable for the elimination of NPE, and then openly disclose information to consumers. Third, set a short-term action schedule. "Detoxification" should not be difficult to achieve.