From AP:

“After tainted baby milk, 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 yesterday that she was stunned to learn the chair she bought last December appears to have caused the skin problems she says she suffered 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 It has withdrawn them from sale and now says the health problems were linked to an anti-fungal chemical in the chairs.

The case gained attention this week following French media reports exposing problems suffered by people who bought the chairs.

One was Dolores Ennrich, who says that because of long-term illness she spent a lot of time sitting in the recliner she purchased in March 2007.

She says she suffered painful eczema and skin infections on her left thigh, back, and left arm.

“It went away, it came back, it went away. That went on for more than a year,” she said. “It is very painful.”

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 yesterday that the firm is working with the Chinese government’s quality inspection watchdogs to investigate the problem. He would not give details.”

tags: france, conforama, dimethyl fumarate, anti-fungal chemical, toxic furniture