This is an article written by David Perry, executive editor
of Furniture/Today
The China critics are getting their voice
I’m hearing from them in my neck of the woods, the
mattress arena. To the long list of Chinese product problems apparently one more
should be added: Mattresses.
An Associated Press story earlier this month said
that a chain of Dutch- based bedding stores was recalling more than 1,300
Chinese-made foam mattresses “amid fears they were sprayed with toxic
insecticide.” The story said the retailer announced the recall
after tests on a container holding more than 700 mattresses found they contained
poison, possibly as a result of being sprayed to kill insects. The exact nature
of the poison has yet to be determined, the story said.
Now it is important to note that this story says
nothing about possibly toxic mattresses being shipped from China to the
United States. I have yet to hear anyone state, definitively, that such
mattresses have been shipped to the U.S. But that hasn’t stopped the critics from sounding the
alarm. “I am sending this to you so that you are aware,” one U.S.
bedding executive said to me, forwarding news of the Dutch company’s findings.
“If you do anything with it PLEASE do not reference me or (name of company
withheld) as a source. Very interesting…..lead paint, dog food, now
mattresses.”
Said another U.S. bedding exec: “This
looks like a really big story.” My thought: It could be, but it isn’t
yet. But, having said that, I agree it is certainly bad
news in general for those who import Chinese mattresses to the U.S. The product recall news out of China lately has been grim.
“Dangerous products” was among the catalog of problems cited in a cover story by
Business Week last month. “Can China Be Fixed?”
was the headline of that story.
The bad news from China hasn’t yet
affected importers of Chinese beds, some leading importers recently told me. But
one said that could change if the drumbeat of bad news continues.
And now that scary story out of the
Netherlands.
One bad shipment of Chinese mattresses sent to the
Netherlands
doesn’t constitute an indictment of the entire Chinese bedding industry. Let’s
keep this story in perspective. But it is more unwelcome news for a country
getting more than its share of it these days.
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