PARIS — First tainted baby milk, and now toxic chairs from China.
Customers in France who bought Chinese-made recliners are complaining of stinging allergic rashes and infections.
One customer, Caroline Morin, said Friday that she was stunned to learn her chair appears to have caused the skin problems she’s suffered with for months. “You sit comfortably on something, and, in fact, you have a bomb under your butt,” she said.
The French distributor, Conforama, warned clients in July that some of the chairs and sofas presented an allergy risk “in rare cases.” It has withdrawn them from sale and now says the health problems were linked to an anti- fungal chemical in the chairs.
Conforama says it has severed its commercial ties with the Chinese supplier, Linkwise, and told its other suppliers to no longer use the chemical, dimethyl fumarate, to prevent mold.
Linkwise is based in the manufacturing hub of Dongguan in southern China.
A man who answered the phone at the company said Friday that it is working with the Chinese government’s quality-inspection watchdog on the problem. He would not give details or his name. The Associated Press
