Replica shirts may be toxic, warns watchdog

Some of the top players at Euro 2012 will be wearing shirts with dangerous levels of chemicals, and similar kits will be on sale to the public, an EU body has warned.

The shirts of co-hosts Poland contains an organotin compound, used to prevent sweat odour, in higher doses than the legal limit. The chemical is a poison that can affect the nervous system.

Spanish and Italian shirts, meanwhile, were found to contain the chemical nonylphenol, which can disrupt the endocrine system, and is banned from waste water because of its harmful effect on the environment.