Houston Community News >> Scare Over Chinese Blankets Widens

7/29/2007-- A second textile company has admitted its blankets imported from China contain unacceptable levels of a carcinogenic chemical.

Charles Parsons, the importer of the Superlux blanket, which has been on the market for two years, began a national recall on Saturday after two independent sets of tests revealed formaldehyde content almost double the maximum safe level permissible in most other developed countries.

The managing director of Charles Parsons, Mark Bilton, declined to say how many blankets had been sold, for legal reasons. Nor would he identify the Chinese manufacturer.

Other textiles from the same manufacturer had been tested, he said, and were not a problem.

In May another importer, Sheridan, recalled its Chinese-made Indulgence blankets after the Herald revealed that the product contained almost 10 times the level of formaldehyde permissible under international standards.

While the US and the European Union have limits ranging from 30 parts per million for infants' bedding and clothing to 330 parts per million for general textiles, the Australian textile industry operates without any regulations preventing or limiting the use of the compound.

Its links to leukemia and nasal and nasopharyngeal cancers resulted in the chemical being classified as a known human carcinogen by the World Health Organization in 2004.

Ashley van Krieken, the executive director of the Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia, said although local producers used formaldehyde in strictly controlled and limited circumstances, there was no way of preventing contaminated imported products from entering the country because there was no mandated safe upper limit for formaldehyde.

"It's a key concern from our point of view because products like this damage not just the consumer but the broader textile industry," he said.

"It would be in the best interests of everyone for the Government to start looking at what other countries are doing."

The Australian Wool Testing Authority, which tested the Sheridan and Charles Parsons blankets, has declined to comment on the issue.

But after the Herald broke the story in May one of the authority's senior product technologists, Bob Miller, told an international textile industry publication there were no border inspections in Australia to protect consumers.

Mr Miller was quoted as saying: "There is nothing stopping someone from importing these particular textiles because there are no checks, no minimum level of formaldehyde or carcinogens of any kind. There are no border patrols."   

(Contributed by Fairfax Digital)