Chairs put French firm in hot seat

Published Saturday, September 20, 2008

PARIS (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 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 It has withdrawn them from sale and now says the health problems were linked to an anti-fungal chemical in the chairs.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 affair gained attention this week following French media reports exposing problems suffered by the chair’s buyers.

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 it is working with the Chinese government’s quality inspection watchdog to investigate the problem. He would not give details, his name or title.