The UK Toxic Sofa Scare

There has been a huge amount of press over the last 12 months now in regards to the ‘itchy sofa’ scare so we have delved in to researching just exactly what happened to bring you the facts!
Late last year (2007) reports starting emerging that a number of people were starting to complain of skin irritations, not that unusual, until you find out that there was one common factor with all of these peoples mysteriously sudden cases of rashes – they had all purchased leather sofas from 3 major high street stores. Again, it was surprising to find out that each of these companies had been selling leather sofas supplied to them by the same major Chinese company. There seemed to be a definite link between the Chinese sofas and the terrible skin complaints that were being reported across the UK.  

As time went on more and more cases seemed to be brought forward and the extensive list of symptoms included rashes, blisters, dermatitis, weeping wounds, eczema and in some very extreme cases blood poisoning; there were even reports that the sofas had in some way effected family pets to the point that their fur was falling out at a dramatic rate! Many people suffered from depression out of being totally unaware as to why they had these awful burn-like rashes all over their bodies that would just not go away. Finally an answer came. It had been discovered that the Chinese company had used an anti fungal chemical called Di-Methyl Fumarate (DMF) which was stored in sachets and inserted in to the leather sofas in order to prevent moisture and mould whilst in transport. Unbeknownst to the major high street stores concerned as well as their customers who were buying these sofas, the DMF was causing all of these terrible and unrelenting symptoms. It was found that when subjected to a warm environment the DMF crystals in the sachets were evaporating in to toxic gases which penetrated the sofas and passed through clothes on to the skin of the person sitting on the sofa where it created an allergic reaction.  

The story was covered in February of this year by BBC’s Watchdog programme in which the Chinese manufacturer denied the allegations and with over a thousand people complaining they had ‘itchy sofa’ syndrome many started seeking compensation. Eventually, solicitors Russell, Jones & Walker (RJW) became the main campaigners for this compensation, representing now over 1300 people in their claims. Joined in group litigation against the companies supplying the effected sofas, it is the largest ever defective product action ever recorded in England and Wales.

The information came as a relief to many people who were undergoing treatment for their traumatisation including creams, antibiotics and steroids. They now knew what was causing their terrible skin outbreaks and were able to do something about it by disposing of their effected sofas immediately. However, some experienced great difficulty in having their sofas replaced by the companies they had purchased from – some were even left for weeks with nothing to sit on! To date the battle is still ongoing with more and more people coming forward with complaints about their toxic sofas. Infact, RJW believe that there could be over 50,000 homes that are harbouring a defective sofa so there is no telling when these problems will cease, even though all of the effected models were eventually recalled.  

One reason why we wanted to bring you this important update is to ensure our customers that Leather Sofa World has never had any dealings with the Chinese manufacturer concerned and that we have never had any sort of complaint in regards to skin conditions associated with any of our products, we also felt that it is our duty to create more awareness of this issue as many people are still suffering in silence having no idea that it is their sofa that is causing them so much distress. We make health and safety a priority when selecting new sofas for our ranges and always ensure that they exceed British Safety Standards.

If you feel that you may have been affected by the ‘itchy sofa’ syndrome then you can find a list of bad sofa batch numbers at the RJW website along with some useful information on what to do next www.rjw.co.uk . You can also read the BBC’s Watchdog report here.