Several local and foreign manufacturers of plastic shoes sold in Taiwan were yesterday ordered to recall and destroy their products because of health risks from excessive levels of plasticizers.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Standards, Meteorology and Inspection issued the order, saying that 30 percent of the plastic shoes on the domestic market were found to contain excessive amounts of various toxic chemicals.
The bureau said 10 of the 30 items it tested in a random sampling between August and last month were found to contain plasticizers in excess of the 0.1 percent permitted level. The standards bureau demanded that manufacturers of the substandard shoes immediately remove their products from store shelves and destroy them.
Nine of the shoe samples tested by the standards bureau contained DEHP, while another one contained DBP. DBP and DEHP have been classified as environmental hormones by the WHO and as toxic chemicals by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).
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