Adi Nike and other brands of residual toxic and hazardous substances

Business agency August 24 hearing Adil Nike is trapped in the "pollution door" How many brands can rest assured that in KFC's "soya milk", Shanxi vinegar's "matching door", Ajisen ramen "bone soup door" and other famous After the brand encountered a crisis of confidence, this time, many famous clothing brands do not seem to be spared. Which fashion brand's gorgeous coat has hidden contaminants?

On August 23rd, International Greenpeace (hereinafter referred to as Greenpeace) released the latest investigation report “Poison Retaining Clothing - Survey of Toxic and Harmful Substances in Global Brand Clothing”, pointing out that Adidas, Li Ning and other international and domestic famous brands Contains "environmental hormone" nonylphenol polyoxyethylene ether (NPE).

From April to May 2011, Greenpeace purchased 78 samples of 15 clothing brands in 18 countries including China, the United Kingdom, and Argentina, including sportswear, casual wear and footwear. The origin of these samples involved 13 textile producing countries such as China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Greenpeace sent the samples to qualified third-party laboratories for testing. As a result, 14 of the 15 clothing brands had problems. 52 of the sampled 78 samples contained residual toxic and hazardous substances.

Well-known brands of "water pollution"

On July 13th, Greenpeace released a report "Fashion Drugs - China's Water Pollution Survey for Global Apparel Brands", stating that two suppliers, including Nike, Adidas, Li Ning, and other well-known clothing brands, have discharged their products to Chinese rivers and rivers. "Environmental Hormone" substances make transnational corporations trapped in "water pollution".

After all, is the "water pollution" incident exposed, or is the "water" of the textile industry and even the "water" of multinational corporations confused? The two Chinese apparel material suppliers involved in the Fashion Poison Report are Younger, a listed company in Ningbo, Zhejiang, and Zhongshan Guotai Dyeing and Finishing Co., Ltd. (herein referred to as Cathay Pacific) in Zhongshan, Guangdong.

On the evening of July 13, Youngor issued a public statement stating that the "Green Peace" report was inconsistent with the facts.

On July 14, Guotai official website issued a “special statement” stating that the report is inconsistent with the actual situation. According to the statement, the water samples taken and tested are not Cathay's discharge water samples; Cathay's sewage meets the national discharge standards and international standards. On the 14th, an official from the Guangdong environmental protection department said in an interview with the Xinhua reporter that he did not find any abnormal discharge of Cathay Pacific.

On July 15th, Nike and Adidas company responded to the media interview and acknowledged that they currently cooperate with two Youngor Group factories in Zhejiang Province, namely Ningbo Youngor Knitted Underwear Co., Ltd. and Ningbo Youngor Sportswear Manufacturing Co., Ltd., but Only the cutting and sewing of products was carried out at this stage. There was no production process for the use of chemicals as indicated by Greenpeace, and only the wastewater from daily life was discharged to the sewage treatment plant.

On July 18, when a reporter called Nike, Adidas, and Li Ning, three clothing brand companies, the three companies all said that they had responded to the incident, but declined to provide further explanation of the contents of the response.

On August 18, according to the Greenpeace official website, Nike pledged to phase out toxic and hazardous substances in its supply chain, and will announce a specific action plan within eight weeks. Previously, Hummer has also issued corresponding commitments on its official website. Li Fang, director of the Greenpeace Pollution Prevention and Control Program, said that they will pay close attention and supervise the progress and implementation of detoxification actions promised by the two companies.

On August 22, Li Ning’s official website released a statement entitled “The Commitment of Li Ning Company to Realize Environmentally Friendly Emissions in the Supply Chain”. Zhang Kai, director of the Greenpeace Pollution and Prevention Program, said at the press conference today that they believe that Li Ning is The official stated that the attitude is ambiguous. The statement stated: “Li Ning will be in the entire production process of Li Ning’s products (including shoes, clothing, and sports accessories) during 8 to 10 years (including all levels of suppliers and Raw material suppliers), reduce and eliminate chemical substances that affect the environment, and fully achieve environmentally friendly emissions.” “We hope that these companies can completely abandon the use of these toxic and hazardous substances at the source, rather than reduce the use.” Zhang Kai said.

For the first time, nonylphenol was listed as a green peace ban on import and export of substances. Since last spring, they have sampled the wastewater discharged by Cathy Cathay on several occasions and sent the samples to the Greenpeace Research Laboratory at the University of Exeter, UK. Laboratory and Omegam independent environmental analysis laboratory in the Netherlands for testing. As a result, it was found that the main toxic and harmful substances in wastewater were nonylphenol (NP), PFOS, and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). These substances interfere with the endocrine of organisms, are toxic to the reproductive system, and have an impact on the immune system and liver. Studies have shown that these substances, even if they are very small, are extremely dangerous.

“Behind ad campaigns such as Adidas and Li Ning flaunting healthy lifestyles are actually dirty sewage pipes. Nonylphenol polyoxyethylene ether (NPE), which harms the environment and human health, is being discharged into rivers in China. The food chain has more people's health," said Zhang Kai.

Zhang Kai told reporters that nonylphenol polyoxyethylene ether (NPE) is often used as a surfactant in textile production and is rapidly decomposed into nonylphenol (NP) when discharged into the environment. Nonylphenol (NP) is a recognized environmental hormone that mimics estrogen, affects the sexual development of organisms, and interferes with endocrine organisms and is toxic to the reproductive system. At the same time, nonylphenol (NP) can accumulate in the living body through the food chain. Therefore, studies have shown that the concentration of several times of discharge is very low, and it is also very dangerous.

An industry insider in the textile industry told the reporter that pollution is likely to occur in the printing and dyeing process of garment processing. One of the main uses of nonylphenol (NP) is precisely used as a textile auxiliaries. It is an endocrine disruptor and is a carcinogen. At present, none of the more than 100 surface water organic pollutants in China are listed as nonylphenol. At the beginning of this year, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection and the General Administration of Customs have listed nonylphenol (NP) and nonylphenol polyoxyethylene ether (NPE) as imports and exports for the first time in the "China's Catalogue of Toxic Chemicals that strictly Limit Imports and Exports." substance.

"But for its domestic use and emissions, China has not issued corresponding regulations. This has caused some companies to wipe the ball. We also hope that the state can quickly introduce appropriate measures to prohibit the release of these poisonous and harmful substances." Another green peace The person in charge of the project said.

According to statistics, the PFOS mentioned in the “Tobacco of Fashion” report has both oleophobic and hydrophobic properties and is widely used in the production of textiles, leather products, furniture and carpets. Sewage treatment agents, relevant experts found through a large number of investigations and studies that PFOS has genotoxicity, male reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, developmental toxicity and endocrine disruption and other multiple toxicity, is considered to be a class of environmental pollution with systemic multiple organ toxicity. Things. When heated to a high temperature, perfluorooctanoic acid decomposes and emits toxic gases that are irritating to the eyes, mucous membranes, and skin.

According to relevant sources, there are no compulsory testing requirements for these three substances in China's current environmental monitoring. However, the latter two substances were included in the environmental monitoring directives around 2008, requiring the prohibition of the use or the provision of limited use.

Wang Canfa, director of the Institute of Environmental Resources Law at the China University of Political Science and Law, said that the wastewater discharged by these companies will not be completely reduced to clean water even after treatment, so it will still cause pollution to the environment. "Even if each factory is based on the national The law stipulates the discharge of sewage, but there are many such enterprises in a river basin, and the total amount of sewage discharged by them will still exceed the environmental quality standards for water bodies."

The penalty for “penalty on a daily basis” was put on the legislative agenda for the first time According to previous media reports, at the time of CNOOC’s three outbreaks of land-sea environmental pollution incidents within one month, authoritative sources disclosed exclusively that the Ministry of Environmental Protection is accepting commissions from the National Commission for Environmental Protection and Resources Protection. Draft the first draft of the "Environmental Protection Law" amendment. According to the optimism of the above-mentioned persons, the draft of this law will openly solicit opinions in the second half of the year "will be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Republic of China for review next year."

It was revealed that the first draft of the amendment included the concept of "penalty on a daily basis" for the first time in the national laws, that is, the polluting enterprises could not meet the deadline for rectification by the environmental supervision department on a regular basis. Overdue one day will be punished by more than 10,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan. The penalty below the yuan is not capped. A number of environmental protection experts pointed out that if the law is successfully passed in the future, it will become China's most stringent environmental protection legislation.

In the interview, Wang Canfa also revealed that the environmental law is being revised. If the law adopts a system of “penalty on a daily basis”, it will change the chaos in some companies “high pollution control costs and low illegal costs”. “If illegal, follow the The number of days for specific fines will improve."

The reporter found from the investigation report of Greenpeace that most of the manufacturers of garments with toxic and hazardous residues are in developing countries. China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand mentioned in the sampling table are all developing countries.

In some countries and regions, the use of NPE has been limited nearly 20 years ago. Both the NP and the NPE were listed in the first priority removal of chemicals under the OSPAR Convention. In the “Regulations on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals” (REACH Regulation) issued by the European Union in December 2006, the use of NPE and NP in the textile production industry is explicitly prohibited.

“For multinational corporations engaged in production and business activities in China, we must first comply with our laws and regulations. At the same time, from the perspective of corporate social responsibility, multinational corporations abide by laws and regulations in other countries, and they should not lower their own standards in developing countries. ."

Take up the weapons of law to safeguard human rights Once these pollution facts are confirmed by the authoritative department, who will indemnify the damage caused by the pollution?

The staff of the Legal Assistance Center for Pollution Victims of the China University of Political Science and Law said that if the discharge of pollutants exceeds the limit, according to Article 74 of the "Law of the People's Republic of China on Water Pollution Prevention and Control", the discharge of water pollutants exceeds the national or local regulations for the discharge of water pollutants. Standards, or those that exceed the control targets for the total discharge of key water pollutants, shall be ordered by the competent department of environmental protection of the people's government at or above the county level to be treated within a specified period of time in accordance with the authority, and shall be paid a fine not less than two times but not more than five times the amount of sewage charges. Local residents can request environmental protection agencies to impose administrative penalties on the company and carry out rectification until they reach the standards for legal discharge.

Wang Canfa said that if the wastewater discharged by enterprises causes pollution to rivers, which affects the aquaculture industry, and affects the irrigation of surrounding farmland and the production and life of residents, quantitative evidence should be collected according to Article 65 of the Tort Liability Act. The regulations stipulate that “polluter causes damage, and the polluters shall bear the liability for infringement.” The lawsuit was filed in the local court. These evidences include the environmental protection department's inspections and can prove that these enterprises actually discharged pollutants, as well as the specific amount of losses incurred. Or the injured people invited the Environmental Protection Agency to mediate and request compensation from the polluting enterprises.