Mattresses spring toxic surprise

By Zhang Wen Source:Global Times Published: 2013-4-15 23:23:01

 

An employee sits in a bed store inside a furniture mall in Chaoyang district Monday. Some mattresses sold in Beijing were revealed to contain excessive amounts of toxins. Photo: Li Hao/GT
An employee sits in a bed store inside a furniture mall in Chaoyang district Monday. Some mattresses sold in Beijing were revealed to contain excessive amounts of toxins. Photo: Li Hao/GT

Sixteen percent of the mattresses sold in Beijing contain excessive amounts of potentially toxic chemicals, according to a report from Beijing Consumer Association (BCA).

In a test of 50 mattresses, 25 did not meet China's quality standards, including eight that contained excessive formaldehyde. Others have problems with logos, instructions, coloring, material density, unhygienic stuffing, endurance, coating material and springs.

"We purchased 50 mattress randomly at real and online stores in Beijing as common customers at the end of last year. We sent them to the National Center for Quality Supervision and Inspection of Furniture and Indoor Environment to check whether they met China's quality standards," said Luo Gang, director of the consumption guidance department of the BCA.

Luo said that they had already passed on the results to Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce and the administration will punish those who sold the poor quality mattresses.

The national standard for formaldehyde in mattresses is below 0.050 micrograms per square meter but eight out of the 50 samples exceeded that standard. The worst brand, Qiangli's "Zhizun-style" mattress even reached 1.986 micrograms per square meter.

The affected Qiangli mattresses are made by Beijing Ouyali Furniture Company in Daxing  district and were sold at a furniture mall in Dahongmen, Fengtai district.

"Consumers should choose well-known brands made by large companies. If the price is too low, it's probably made by small, uncertified companies," Luo said.

"When choosing mattresses, consumers can smell them for any pungent odor. If it has a zipper they can look at the material inside. It's better to air a mattress before using it," he said.

Mattresses which contain excessive formaldehyde will release free formaldehyde and can harm the health through the skin or if breathed in. Long-term exposure might cause irritation and swelling of the respiratory tract, headaches, fatigue, eczema, or even cancer, according to the BCA.

A coconut fiber mattress salesperson from Beijing Hongda Meidi Mattress Company, Daxing district, whose products were also found to contain excessive formaldehyde, said that the glue in the coconut fiber mattress had caused the excessive formaldehyde.

"We bought the coconut fiber stuffing from our upstream companies. We just do the coating. We took the problematic mattresses off the shelf Sunday and today after the media reports," he said.

Allison Zheng, 26, who lives in Chaoyang district, said she had just bought another type of Qiangli mattress for over 3,000 yuan ($485) at an Easyhome furniture store, but no longer trusts the brand. She plans to ask for a refund.

"It hasn't been delivered. This mattress hasn't been put on the blacklist for having excessive formaldehyde but the brand Qiangli has," she said.

"I chose it because I felt comfortable lying on it. Next time I'll try to choose a better brand, although the price is higher," she said.

Some mattresses sold at Beijing Junda Jinghua Furniture Company, a furniture mall in Daxing district, were found to contain cheaper straw to bulk out the stuffing, and were also put on the BCA blacklist.

A manager from Junda Jinghua said that the owners of some of the small stores in the mall had allowed these cheaper mattresses to be sold alongside premium brands.

"The mattresses are not the stores' own brand, the distributor just introduced some cheaper mattresses because they sell better than the expensive ones. After they were found to have a quality problem, we asked stores to remove them," he said.

Tian Dexiang, honorable president of the Indoor Environment and Health Branch, Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences, said that formaldehyde has been identified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization.

"It's like smoking. If you're exposed to a high density of it constantly, it can be deadly. For babies whose immune system is weak, it's particularly dangerous, it can harm intellectual development and affect their memory," he said.

"The government should ask furniture producers to ensure any harmful chemicals are labeled so customers can have a better knowledge of the hidden dangers in them and make a well-informed choice when purchasing furniture," he said.



Posted in: Society, Metro Beijing

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