Share this on

European consumers burned by Chinese sofas

Gary Evans, Senior editor -- Furniture Today, November 16, 2009

This is a weird story, maybe even a cautionary tale. It has been all over the news in Europe, and was sent to me by a domestic fabric mill CEO who says this sort of thing doesn't happen in the U.S.

What happened is that people in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland and Poland would break out in blisters and welts and go to their doctors for treatment. Then they'd go home, sit on their couch to recuperate from their mystery illness, and get worse.

Sometimes people were hospitalized. There are individual and class action suits all across the continent.

Researchers finally traced the problem to upholstery imported from two factories in China. The factories were using a chemical agent called DMR, an anti-mold fungicide used to combat humid conditions in the plants' warehouses.

Dermatologists determined in 2007 that the agent could cause burns and blisters to human skin — evaporating in warm conditions (like body heat) and soaking through clothes to the skin. Thousands of sofas with DMR were imported to the European Union in 2007 and 2008. The EU has since banned the product.

Since there don't seem to be similar reports in this country, it might be safe to assume that the Chinese factories in question don't do business in the U.S. and/or that headlines about toxic dog food and other products from China has made the government more vigilant. Bet it was the first reason.

But on a personal basis, here's what happened to a 68-year-old Brit who recently was awarded an undisclosed settlement (although it was described as a modest “four-figure payout”) for injuries that appeared after he sat on a sofa bought several days earlier.

He was hospitalized for several days after suffering from blisters, burns and rashes across his neck and back. Weeping sores on his legs took three months to heal. His sister said, according to the Times in London: “It was like someone was pouring hot water over him. Maurice had been suffering for more than a week before he finally confided in us that he had a painful rash.”

The newspaper said that a class action suit — in Britain, a “group case” — has been initiated on behalf of 2,000 consumers seeking compensation from a handful of retailers who sold the products. The Times identified the two factories in China as Linkwise and Eurosofa. Some 3,000 other cases involving sofas from other manufacturers are under investigation.

As I said, there don't seem to be accounts of anything similar here. Hopefully, our state consumer protection agencies and the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission would be there to protect not only consumers but retailers and other parties from dangers like this.

Share this on

Ramtex's Korori: Tide of Imports May Soon Change

Aug 16, 2011

Buyers' shopping lists full at High Point Market

Apr 20, 2012

Safavieh acquires first European warehouse

Apr 19, 2012

Custom dining driven by more than price

Feb 23, 2012

London man suffers burns from Chinese sofa

Sep 3, 2009

Also by this author

Also by Gary Evans

Featured Company

FurnitureCore.com

FurnitureCore.com is a dynamic web application aimed at the furniture industry. Retailers and manufacturers alike will find our deep reserve of tools to be exactly what their furniture business needs.www.furniturecore.com... more

Most Recent Resources

Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market

Here is a selection of products shown at this month's International Gift & Home Furnishings Market here.

Networking at the 13th annual F/T Leadership Conference

NAPLES, Fla. — Industry executives and guests took the opportunity to network and play golf during down time at Furniture/Today's 13th annual Leadership Conference here this month.