Today we learned that some of the official Euro 2012 football jerseys have ‘dangerous’ amounts of chemicals in them, so what does that mean for us fans?
Is it true my jersey has dangerous chemicals in it?
Well, that depends on where you’re from. Research carried out by BEUC (the EU’s national consumer watchdog) into chemicals used in the official Euro 2012 team strips found that Poland, Spain, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Portugal all contained “worrying” levels of chemicals in their shirts.
It’s not been reported if the other jerseys were tested or not and that includes our own Ireland jersey.
What chemicals did they find?
Well, surprisingly, lead was found in six of the strips, which we thought would have slowed you down – evidently not. To make matters worse, the kits from Spain and Germany, exceeded the legal level of lead for children’s products and the Portuguese and Dutch shirts also contained the metal nickel. Crazy or what?
Mad alright… What are all these chemicals doing in my jersey?
Well some of the chemicals actually help to keep you smelling fresh even though you’re sweating your nads off. However, if too high a dose of these chemicals gets into your system they can have some pretty devastating effects.
A statement by the BEUC said: “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.”
Holy moly. So will my jersey kill me?
Well, unless you wear it 24/7 we doubt it will have any major affect on your health. Once you only wear it occasionally and you’re not breathing through it like a smog mask then you should be fine. It certainly won’t kill you.
So are us Irish in danger?
Well the Irish Umbro jersey wasn’t actually tested. Of the nine jerseys tested, four came from Nike, four from Adidas and one from Puma. However, a Nike spokesperson said, “Nike has some of the most stringent standards in the footwear, apparel and equipment industry on the use of restricted substances.” With that in mind the company has requested detailed information from the BEUC so that they can fully investigate their claims.
Should I burn my jersey just in case?
No. That’s probably the worst thing you could do. Burning one of the ‘dangerous’ jerseys would undoubtedly release the toxins into the air. So don’t do that whatever you do. As for burning the Irish jersey, that would just be a waste of a jersey and possibly leave you open to charges of treason.
In fairness, we wouldn’t panic too much if you do own one of the jerseys above, we just wouldn’t recommend you live in it, but other than that you should be fine (emphasis on ‘should’).
