Nike Shirts Pulled by German Retailers

Major retailers in Germany withdrew soccer shirts made by Nike Inc. after a television program claimed they contained a chemical that could lead to infertility.

The line of shirts contain tributyrin, a fungicide used in the U.S. to remove the smell created by the bacteria in sweat, said a spokesman for Gesamttextil, the German textile industry association. He said it isn’t applied to clothes worn close to the skin in Germany.

Nike, based in Beaverton, Ore., is testing the shirts in Germany to see if there is a health threat, and should finish the process in the next couple of days, said Vada Manager, director of global issues management. Manager said Nike won’t recall the shirts in the U.S.

Retailer KarstadtQuelle pulled all of the soccer shirts from its shelves, and Metro’s Kaufhof Warenhaus department store unit stopped selling the line, identified by the ARD public broadcaster as containing the chemical.

A Kaufhof spokesman said the chain is in “close contact” with Nike about whether to pull the rest of the company’s shirts.

Susanne Walter, a spokeswoman for Nike International in Germany, declined to comment.

Tributyrin, or TBT, is often used in the shipping industry to control mold and mildew, said Thomas Kullick, an environmental spokesman for the textile association.

The risks and benefits of TBT have been debated for years. A study of 140 snail species has shown that a high concentration of the chemical caused infertility, which is why the World Wide Fund has called for a ban, the German newspaper Die Welt reported.