Clothing and accessories sold by fast fashion giant Shein contain high levels of toxic chemicals researchers are warning.
Random testing of clothes, bags, belts and other items showed high in forever chemicals linked to cancer and autism.
Some items contained over 400 times the safe level of compounds, which can pass through the skin and get into blood systems.
Testing was done by South Korean officials to ensure Shein and other foreign e-commerce sites are adhering to safe business standards.
The claims were made by South Korean officials who tested 93 products, many that are advertised for children, and found nearly half contained toxic substances.
Shein, which is a Chinese-owned company headquartered in Singapore, has become a popular ecommerce site in the US – its app ranked second in the nation last year with more than 36 million downloads.
Data from ShipMatrix, a logistics consultancy firm, showed that Shein ships about one million packages per day to the US, which has become the China-owned company’s largest market in recent years.
But the company’s success has led to scrutiny by world leaders, as South Korean officials have started doing weekly analysis of its products.
And the latest uncovered excessive levels of phthalates, a kind of forever chemical used to soften plastics, which have been known to cause hormone disruptions.
‘Forever chemicals’ are a class of common industrial compounds that do not break down when they are released into the environment.
They are used to make items grease-proof, water-proof, stick-proof and stain-resistant, and can seep out of products and get into our bodies through ingestion, inhalation or through the skin.
Officials found that one pair of shoes had 428 times the permitted levels, while three bags had 153 times the limit of forever chemicals.
While South Korea did not reveal how it tested the products, if a drop of water is put on PFAS-treated fabric it will bead up, roll around and leave no residue.
Seoul city official Park Sang-jin told AFP that they have requested a removal of these products from sale, and said that since the city began inspections in April, most platforms have complied with such requests.
Authorities found one pair of shoes had 428 times the permitted levels, while three bags had 153 times the limit. The analysis showed excessive levels of phthalates, used to soften plastics, which have been known to cause hormone disruptions (stock)
Shein told officials that it takes product safety ‘very seriously’.
‘Our suppliers are required to comply with the controls and standards we have put in place, and we work closely with international third-party testing agencies … to regularly carry out testing to ensure suppliers’ compliance to our product safety standards’, a Shein spokesperson told AFP.
The spokesperson added that the company had conducted over 400,000 chemical safety tests with these agencies over the past year.
‘Upon learning of any claim against our products, we immediately remove the product(s) from our site as a matter of caution whilst conducting our investigation,’ the spokesperson said.
DailyMail.com has contacted Shein for comment.
The recent investigation is not the first time toxic chemicals have been found in Shein’s products, as Greenpeace conducted a similar test in 2022.
The activist group bought 42 items including garments and footwear for men, women, children and infants, from Shein websites in Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, and five items from a pop-up store in Munich, Germany.
The products were sent to an independent laboratory BUI for chemical analysis. The findings – which include very high levels of phthalates in shoes and formaldehyde in a baby girl’s dress
