WELLINGTON - [20.08.07] Officials in New Zealand have launched an investigation after children’s garments imported from China were found to contain very high levels of formaldehyde, which were 900 times above the recommended safety limit.

The move comes after a number of Chinese-made consumer products have been recalled. The Warehouse, a New Zealand retailer, issued a recall at the weekend for children‘s pyjamas made in China after two children were burned when their flannelette nightclothes caught fire. Last week, Mattel said it was recalling 18.2 million toys made in China because of hazards such as the use of lead paint, and there have been other scares involving toothpaste and food.

But highlighting potential problems with China’s textile and clothing sector will be a major concern for the Chinese government given that textiles and clothing made up more than 13% of exports in the first half of this year.

Formaldehyde is used as a preservative to combat mildew and is also used in some fixatives for textile printing as a cross linking agent in pastes to fix the print pigment to the fabric surface. There has been concerns about the link between cancer and formaldehydes and subsequently the concentrations of formaldehyde in fixatives have been reduced to less than 20 parts per million (ppm) by many retailers and textile standards. Responsible brands such as Puma have totally banned the use of formaldehydes in its footwear.

The New Zealand government ordered the latest probe after scientists testing clothes for national TV network T3‘s "Target" consumer watchdog programme discovered formaldehyde in wool and cotton clothes imported from China. The show’s producer Simon Roy said scientists from the government agency AgriQuality tested a variety of new childrens‘ and adults‘ clothes and the results were so astounding they thought they had made a mistake.

"Our results were shocking, ranging from 230ppm (parts per million) to 18,000 ppm," he said. "Some of the clothes tested have a reading of 900 times the level that actually causes harm."

The television station says it will not release details of brand names or importers ahead of the show’s airing on Tuesday.

Further twist

In a further twist, The EU‘s Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, dismissed as "totally false" today [20.08.07] a claim made by a Chinese official that the EU was using concerns over Chinese export standards as a form of protectionism. "The allegation that European companies‘ action against toxic Chinese goods is politically motivated and shows bias against China is totally false," Mandelson said in a strongly-worded statement.

"As trade commissioner, I will not accept claims of toxicity being used as a pretext for protectionism. Equally, I will give firm backing to European companies having to reject goods that are dangerous to consumers," he added.

The statement comes in response to the allegation voiced by China‘s quality-control chief Li Changjiang on state TV who said that "Demonizing Chinese products ... is simply a new form of trade protectionism."