New Testing Shows High Levels of BPA In Sports Bras and Athletics New Testing Shows High Levels of BPA In Sports Bras and Athletic Shirts

Posted by SGB Media | Oct 20, 2022 | Apparel, SGB Updates, Sports/Fitness, Update

On Wednesday, the Center for Environmental Health (CEH) sent legal notices to eight brands of sports bras and six brands of athletic shirts after testing showed the clothing could expose individuals to up to 22 times the safe limit of the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), according to California law.

The sports bra brands include Athleta, PINK, Asics, The North Face, Brooks, All in Motion, Nike, and FILA. The activewear shirt brands include The North Face, Brooks, Mizuno, Athleta, New Balance, and Reebok.

BPA, a well-studied hormone disrupting chemical, mimics estrogen and can disrupt the normal functioning of the body, including metabolism, growth and development, and reproduction.

“People are exposed to BPA through ingestion (e.g., from eating food or drinking water from containers that have leached BPA) or by absorption through skin (e.g., from handling receipt paper),” said Kaya Allan Sugerman, Illegal Toxic Threats Program Director at CEH. “Studies have shown that BPA can be absorbed through skin and end up in the bloodstream after handling receipt paper for seconds or a few minutes at a time. Sports bras and athletic shirts are worn for hours at a time, and you are meant to sweat in them, so it is concerning to be finding such high levels of BPA in our clothing.”

To date, CEH’s investigations have found BPA in polyester-based clothing with spandex, including socks made for infants. Throughout the past year, CEH has pushed more than 90 companies to reformulate their products to remove all bisphenols including BPA, and some have already agreed to do so.

“The problem with BPA is it can mimic hormones like estrogen and block other hormone receptors, altering the concentration of hormones in our bodies, and resulting in negative health effects,” said Dr. Jimena Díaz Leiva, Science Director at CEH. “Even low levels of exposure during pregnancy have been associated with a variety of health problems in offspring. These problems include abnormal development of the mammary glands and ovaries that can increase the likelihood of developing breast or ovarian cancer later in life. These effects occur even at low levels of exposure like those seen in people today.”

Defendants will have 60 days to work with CEH to remedy the violations before CEH files a complaint to do so.

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The article you have just read as you can see is published by SPORTING GOODS MEDIA.

The fabrics used by these companies is also used by no telling how many more. Just because they claim their garments are specifically “athletic shirts” does not separate them from the many companies that make T shirts or even sports bras that are not necessarily marketed as such.

This leads me to wonder if the fabrics used to make the no sleep sleeping bags are also made with fabrics that are subject to the same dying and finishing these garment materials receive. After all, all of the garments mentioned are made in Asia as evidenced by the names of the companies that sell them. To the best of my knowledge none has domestic production.

Note that all of these garments are made with polyester fiber fabrics. That means when you sweat your perspiration is trapped against your skin which increases your exposure to the BPA because the chemical gets into the water sweat which is then absorbed into your skin.

I am an advocate of 100 percent cotton workout clothing. you sweat it is absorbed by the cotton and then it moves to the side opposite your skin and evaporates.

One more reason why I only buy pure finish fabric, after dying nothing is added to it. You can feel safe from chemicals when you own a Wiggy’s bag.