Nine in 10 yoga mats found to contain substances that can irritate eyes or skin or even harm reproductive system, Hong Kong consumer watchdog finds

Hong Kong’s consumer watchdog on Monday revealed that more than 90 per cent of tested yoga mats contained a substance that could cause irritation to the eyes and skin, and harm the reproductive system.

The Consumer Council found 28 out of 30 yoga mats it tested contained between 9mg/kg and 1,270mg/kg of formamide, with nine models exceeding the European Union Toy Safety Directive’s cut-off limit of 200 mg/kg – and the highest model more than five times over the limit.

Formamide is a reprotoxic substance that is moderately irritating to eyes, skin and mucous membranes, and could cause harm on hematopoietic and reproductive systems. Yoga mats are generally made of foam materials containing formamide that are widely used in the plastics and polymers industries.

“Skin may come into direct contact with the mat for a long period of time and over a large area when practising yoga or substances may be inhaled,” said Professor Nora Tam Fung-yee, chairwoman of the council’s research and testing committee.

“The council calls on the manufacturers to reduce the amount of harmful substances in their yoga mats as far as possible to safeguard consumer health.”

The results showed that despite a vast price disparity among the 30 models – from HK$45 to HK$899 – both the most expensive model and one of the cheapest scored the same rating of four points in overall performance, indicating that their price and content of harmful substances were not necessarily related.

The council also tested the mats for dimethyl formamide (DMF), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), plasticisers and product labelling.