Toxic slippers harm your health - throw away any you have at home
Everyone has slippers at home and everyone wears them, but not long ago, a shoe factory in Jiangsu urgently recalled several thousand pairs of air-blown slippers. What exactly is wrong with these slippers?
What are air-blown slippers?
Air-blown slippers are a new type of slipper based on PVC raw material. While injection molding, air is blown in to foam the material. This kind of slipper has advantages such as comfort, good looks, high wear resistance, good toughness, a high coefficient of friction and good anti-slip performance, so many people keep a pair at home. However, the labels on this kind of slipper in supermarkets do not indicate the chemical substances they contain; they simply list the material as PVC.
Does stating the material prove the slippers are problem-free? No!
With harmful substances exceeding the standard, a shoe company urgently recalled its air-blown slippers.
According to reports, last year a shoe company in Jiangsu urgently recalled 2260 pairs of air-blown slippers. The reason was that the phthalate content in the decorative flowers on the upper, the upper and the sole exceeded the standard, and the lead content in the sole exceeded the standard, which would seriously harm human health.
What harm do substandard slippers cause?
Phthalates exceeding the standard are harmful to men and children
Phthalates are used to shape and fix form, and are easily absorbed by the human body through the skin. Studies show that phthalates play a role similar to estrogen in the human and animal body, can interfere with the endocrine system, reduce men's semen volume and sperm count, lower sperm motility and cause abnormal sperm morphology, and in severe cases can lead to testicular cancer. In addition, they can harm children's liver and kidneys, and can also cause precocious puberty in children. They can even be called the "chief culprit" behind male reproductive problems. Generally speaking, the worse the quality of the product's raw materials, the higher the amount of phthalates used, and the stronger the pungent smell.
Lead exceeding the standard affects children's intellectual development
Lead is a heavy metal that is extremely harmful to the human body. After lead and its compounds enter the human body, they can harm multiple systems including the nervous, hematopoietic, digestive, renal, cardiovascular and endocrine systems. Lead can affect children's growth and development, and may cause low intelligence, cognitive dysfunction and even neurological damage in children.
Three tips to help you choose slippers
Have you ever noticed that some plastic slippers on the market look obviously new yet give off a pungent odor? This is especially true of some cheap plastic slippers, whose smell is so bad it makes you nauseous. Vendors say the smell is mostly because "old material" has been mixed in. So how do you tell whether slippers are up to standard? Here are three tips:
Look: Slippers that are too brightly colored often contain too much colorant, and most of these colorants contain heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, which are quite harmful to the human body.
Smell: Do not buy any that have a pungent odor!
Weigh: Those that look shiny and feel very light are usually made of new material, while those that feel extremely heavy are mostly made of old material.
In addition, experts remind that because children are in a period of physical development, when choosing children's shoes you should pay attention to multiple aspects such as safety, functionality and fit at the same time, so try not to choose children's shoes that are low in price and bright in color! For children's shoes, the upper material is best made of lightweight, comfortable and breathable cotton cloth and genuine leather, which is good for children's activity and foot development. Since children are in a period of bone development, the shoe size should be appropriate: too narrow will affect the development of the foot muscles and ligaments, while too large will affect walking and activity.