U.S. Senator Charles Schumer
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Charles Schumer is urging the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to investigate the safety of Chinese-imported wood flooring material from Lumber Liquidators, and to initiate recalls or other disciplinary action if the product is found to be dangerous.
Schumer noted that homes recently rebuilt after Superstorm Sandy and other storms that hit Upstate New York could be at risk, and that negative respiratory impacts are more strongly felt in apartments with poor ventilation.
Schumer said that the CPSC, in consultation with the EPA and CDC, should test whether this wood-flooring product, that is reportedly tainted with high levels formaldehyde, is out of compliance with industry voluntary standards for formaldehyde in household products, or worse, an immediate hazard to human health.
More broadly, he also urged the CPSC to do a full review of the standards set by the laminate product industry in regards to safe amounts of formaldehyde in laminate flooring, to determine if a stronger CPSC-set standard is needed.
A recent ’60 Minutes’ report, which tested wood materials from New York stores, exposed concerns that Lumber Liquidators’ laminate flooring contains unsafe levels of formaldehyde, a dangerous carcinogen that can also cause short- and long-term respiratory problems. In addition, the ’60 Minutes’ report suggested that Chinese mills manufacturing the product were not complying with the California Air Resources Board emission standard and were falsely labeled as compliant.
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