Women's underwear from SHEIN contains cancer-causing substances 3 times above permitted levels

This file photo shows SHEIN logo and their website, May 16. Reuters-Yonhap

Women's underwear sold on Chinese shopping app SHEIN has been found to contain cancer-causing agents at a rate three times higher than permitted levels, the Seoul city government said Thursday.

The city announced the results of a safety examination on 330 products sold on Chinese online retail platforms, such as SHEIN, Temu and AliExpress, conducted from June 11 for a month.

The products included 59 clothing items, 89 makeup products, 140 food containers, and 42 sanitary products.

The findings show that one of the women's underwear sold in SHEIN contained allylamine, a cancer-causing substance known to increase the risk of bladder cancer, in amounts that surpass the permitted levels by 2.9 times.

Fourteen makeup products were also detected to have germs exceeding permitted levels, including two types of lipstick sold in AliExpress and SHEIN, in which Staphylococcus aureus was detected.

In addition, four nail products sold in Ali and SHEIN were found to have up to 97.4 times the permitted amount of nickel, and 1.6 times the amount of dioxane. Nickel is a chemical element that can cause contact dermatitis, and dioxane carries the risk of creating toxicity in the liver and kidney.

The toxic substances were also found in five enamel plates, which far exceeded the level of cadmium and lead permitted in the country.

The city plans to request the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Chinese online platforms to stop selling the 20 products with safety issues. (Yonhap)