Since 2014, the quality supervision department of mainland China has inspected children's shoes on the market every year.
In 2018, an inspection by the Shanghai Quality Supervision Bureau found that 12 of the 40 samples of children's shoes were unqualified, with a failure rate of 30%.
In June 2022, CCTV exposed another batch of unqualified children's shoes. Of the 200 samples sampled, 48 were unqualified, with a failure rate of 24.5%.
On April 2, 2024, the Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Market Regulation released a report in which they randomly inspected 167 pairs of children's shoes and found that 26 pairs were unqualified, and until this year, the failure rate of children's shoes still reached 15.57%.
Why are there so many unqualified quality children's shoes every year? In addition, what other "poisonous shoes" on the market cannot be worn? What are their health effects?
1. How harmful are "poisonous shoes"?
The children's shoes market in mainland China is very large, and the number of children's shoes needed every year is more than one billion pairs.
However, after random inspections, the failure rate is still high, and based on this calculation, every child may wear a pair of substandard shoes every year.
The most common problem is excessive phthalate levels. Phthalates are a commonly used chemical that makes products softer and more elastic and are commonly found in packaging materials, children's toys and paints, among others.
Some shoe manufacturers will add a lot of plasticizer to the sole of the shoe in order to make the children's shoes softer. As a result, phthalate levels may exceed safety standards.
If you wear these shoes for a long time, harmful substances will sneak into your body. Not only can it damage the kidneys, but it can also cause precocious puberty.
Secondly, another problem is that the lead content is too high. Lead is a heavy metal that is easily absorbed by children's skin. The damage of lead to the human body is comprehensive, not only affecting memory and learning ability, but also causing irreversible damage to the brain. Research in the Journal of the American Medical Association has shown that when a child's blood lead levels rise, mental development suffers.
These "toxic children's shoes" of uneven quality are really worrying, and how to choose a pair of shoes with good quality for children has become a problem for parents.
2. These 3 types of shoes are "harmful shoes", don't wear them anymore
In addition to the quality problems of the shoes worn by children, there are also 3 types of shoes that many people are wearing, and there are also various health hazards.
1. Shoes for the elderly
As the name suggests, "shoes for the elderly" are shoes specially designed for the elderly, suitable for their foot shape and wearing habits.
Shoes for the elderly claim to have functions such as "safety" and "non-slip", but some manufacturers have repeatedly cut corners on quality in order to reduce costs.
At the beginning of 2022, the Shenzhen Municipal Administration for Market Regulation conducted a test on the shoes of the elderly on the market and found that 30 batches were unqualified in terms of anti-slip and shock absorption.
In 2021, the Guangzhou Municipal and Foshan Municipal Consumer Councils tested 40 samples of shoes for the elderly, and found that 8 brands of shoes for the elderly exceeded the standard of phthalates, and some brands even exceeded the standard by 302 times. Phthalates are a class 2B carcinogen that can also induce an inflammatory response in liver cancer cells at low concentrations, increasing the risk of liver cancer.
Therefore, when choosing shoes for the elderly, you must keep your eyes open and choose shoes of excellent quality.
2. Cave shoes
Cave shoes are comfortable and convenient, and can be said to be the first choice for many people to travel.
However, Director Yuan Yingjia, director of the Department of Orthopedic Rehabilitation of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, reminded everyone that the soles of the cave shoes are relatively thick, and the shoes are loose, and the feet are not easy to stick to the soles when walking, so you have to hook the shoes with your toes to walk. If you keep walking like this, the tendons in your big toe will be overexerted, which can cause soreness and pain in your knee.
In addition, when walking with pierced shoes, the ankles have to be tilted upwards, so that the muscles in the front of the calf and the outside of the thigh will be tightened, and the hip joint will be more stressed, which will induce back pain.
3. "Stepping on" slippers
"Feeling of stepping on" is a way for merchants to describe shoes as particularly soft and comfortable, but the soles of such shoes are too flat, too soft, too wide, and the support in the middle is insufficient, so they cannot support the feet and legs well, and it is not easy for the feet to find the correct focus point when walking.
If you wear these shoes for a long time, it will accelerate the aging of the ankle joint, and even cause problems such as X-shaped legs, low back pain, scoliosis, and pelvic tilt forward.
3. How to choose a good pair of shoes? Teach you 3 tricks
For middle-aged and elderly friends whose legs and feet are not flexible enough, choosing a pair of shoes that are both comfortable and suitable is a top priority. So, how can you choose a good pair of shoes that suit you?
First of all, it is necessary to understand the shape of the foot. You can step on a piece of A4 paper after wetting your feet slightly, and observe the blank part in the middle of the soles of the feet, accounting for 2/3 is normal, less than 2/3 is low arch or flat feet, and more than 2/3 may be high arches.
Secondly, choose shoes that fit well. When choosing a shoe, look at the distance between the longest toe and the toe of the shoe, and if you can easily put down one finger, then the size is more appropriate.
Also, buy shoes to see the quality. Li Ye, deputy chief physician of the Department of Orthopedics at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said that a good pair of shoes should have these characteristics: loose toe, soft and breathable upper, elastic front and middle of the shoe, and rounded sole to heel.
To put it simply, there are many styles and functions of shoes on the market now, but the quality is different, and some are exaggerated. If you want to choose a good pair of shoes that are suitable and durable, you have to be careful, don't just try to be cheap, good quality is the most important thing.
Resources:
[1] "Do I often wear hole-in-the-hole shoes, will my legs become bent?" 》. The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine.2024-06-17
[2] "This kind of "-ridden" shoes, with monthly sales of more than 10,000 yuan, are destroying your feet step by step......". Popular Science China.2024-06-12
[3] "Doctor Xiehe Says | How do you choose a pair of shoes that fit Jio? 》. Peking Union Medical College Hospital.2022-09-30
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