The South Korean government has once again targeted Temu and Ali Express.
As is customary, the Seoul Metropolitan Government tested 26 pieces of winter clothing for kids from the two low-cost online stores and their competitor Shein.
In those 26 pieces, seven were found to have higher levels of toxins like lead, cadmium, and phthalate plasticizers.
The government checked one Temu jacket and found that it had 3.6 times the legal limit of lead, 3.4 times the legal limit of cadmium, and 622 times the legal limit of phthalate plasticizers.
The authorities also said that a decorative piece on the jacket was longer than what was allowed, which is a safety issue for kids.
The government also said that a jumpsuit from Temu had 294 times the legal limit of phthalate plasticizers, which is something that should be avoided.
At the same time, Ali Express got in trouble for selling shoes with five times as much lead as is legal in Korea.
A very high level of a chemical called DEHP was found in the Temu jacket. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health in the United States said it is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen.”
The California government says that DEHP “can cause cancer, birth defects, and other harm to reproduction.” Officials in Seoul have said similar things about the chemical and other phthalates that come from plastic.
Lead and cadmium are also bad for people. The World Health Organization says it is “especially harmful to young children” and can hurt people’s brains, livers, kidneys, and bones. On its website, the National Cancer Institute says that cadmium is known to lead to cancer.
One person who works for Temu said that the company is very concerned about the safety of its products and uses quality control measures such as checking documentation, doing random checks, and “continuously monitoring the platform for potential issues.”
“Two of the seven items listed in the most recent report from the Seoul Metropolitan Government were sold on Temu.” Before the report came out, these products had already been taken off our platform through proactive monitoring.
A spokesperson said in a statement, “All merchants on our platform must meet strict safety standards and follow strong compliance measures.”
This year, the business made a deal with the Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) about safety measures. A company representative said, “We will continue to work closely with the authorities to make sure our users can shop with confidence.”
Still, this is not the first time Temu has broken the rules with the South Korean Government. This year, the government found that the insoles of sandals sold on the platform had more than 11 times the legal amount of lead.
It was also the focus of an investigation in August that found carcinogens in products from Shein, Alibaba, and the “Shop Like a Billionaire” platform.
The company has also broken a lot of rules in many places, such as the United States, the European Union, Indonesia, Vietnam, and others. Among the accusations are unsafe products, violations of forced labor, and problems with consumer privacy.
We asked the Alibaba Group, which owns Ali Express, for a comment, but they did not respond.
Ali Express, on the other hand, told Business Insider that the company “complied with the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s request to take the affected items off sale right away.”
