Dangerous levels of heavy metals in baby products from Chinese e-commerce platforms

 

SEOUL, May 23 (AJU PRESS) – Alarming levels of dangerous heavy metals have been detected in children’s products sold on popular Chinese online platforms AliExpress and Shein.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Thursday that a recent safety inspection of seven baby items from Chinese e-commerce sites found high levels of lead, chromium and nickel in two products.

A children’s watch sold on Shein was found to have lead content in the crown that was 278 times higher than the legal safety limit. The metal back cover contained 3.4 times the chromium and 4.4 times the permissible amount of nickel.

The city authorities said a children’s necklace from AliExpress was also found to contain lead at 1.2 times the permissible limit.

Excessive exposure to lead can harm reproductive function and increase the risk of cancer. Chromium can cause skin rash following acute or chronic exposure and is toxic to the respiratory tract, which may lead to dizziness and headaches. Nickel can cause allergic reactions, including itching and rash.

The South Korean government has tightened regulatory scrutiny of Chinese e-commerce platforms after a series of detections of dangerous substances in products sold on them.

Last week, the Fair Trading Commission signed agreements with operators AliExpress and Temu aimed at promoting product safety and better protecting consumers.

AliExpress and Temu user numbers, which have been growing rapidly since last year, fell 3.2 percent month-on-month to 8.59 million and 0.7 percent to 8.24 million last month due to security concerns.