Across
the country,
worried parents
are checking
their kids'
clothes to see
if they are made
in China, and
potentially
contain a
dangerous
chemical.
It is skin
reactions to
Chinese-made
clothes that
have worried
parents across
the country.
Maddy Line had
bought her son
Milo a new set
of clothes. How
could she
possibly know
the 100 per cent
cotton clothes
allegedly
contained
formaldehyde?
Milo broke out
in a shocking
rash all over
his body within
20 minutes of
putting on new
clothes.
His mother
believes
contains the
chemical
formaldehyde.
"He put the
clothes on and
by the time I
got home the
middle of his
face had swollen
up," Milo's
mother Maddy
said.
"The bridge of
his nose, his
top lip was so
swollen it was
touching his
nose and his
chin but not his
throat," she
said.
Sally has been
constantly
rubbing
moisturising
cream into her
baby's body
since it broke
into an itchy
scaly rash. She
worries it could
be formaldehyde
from her kids
clothes.
"Because such a
large amount of
clothing in our
household is
made in China -
it does make me
concerned
because it's
just the unknown
isn't it," she
said.
It was Today
Tonight's expose
that lifted the
lid on
formaldehyde in
clothes imported
from China.
The same
chemical has
already been
found in food
and Chinese made
blankets have
been pulled off
our shelves.
New Zealand's
Target program
tested common
items of
clothing made in
China but New
Zealand, like
Australia, has
no safe levels
for
formaldehyde, a
known cancer
cause.
At just 20 parts
per million, the
chemical can
induce rashes,
headaches,
dizziness, joint
pain, fatigue,
asthma and in
the extreme case
- cancer.
Remember 20
parts per
million is
considered high,
but the test
results from New
Zealand were
incredible.
Women's
corduroys: 290
parts per
million.
A spiderman
T-shirt: 1,400
parts per
million.
Pyjamas: 3,400.
Kids pants:
16,000 parts per
million.
White stain
resistant pants:
18,000 parts per
million.
That's nearly
900 times a
reasonable safe
level.
Agriculture,
Fisheries and
Forestry
Minister, Peter
McGauran,
ordered
authorities to
find out what's
going on.
"(It's) totally
unacceptable.
Australian
authorities have
been caught
unprepared," he
said.
Until the ACCC
tests are
finished, it
will adopt the
European safe
levels for
formaldehyde.
For many
parents, that's
simply not
enough and
clothes will go
in the bin until
they get the all
clear.
