A federal regulatory group announced Wednesday it has started an investigation into laminate flooring products sold by Toano-based Lumber Liquidators in the wake of repeated allegations the company has sold flooring with excessive levels of formaldehyde.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission will conduct the testing. Lawsuits against Lumber Liquidators along with a scathing report on the CBS News program 60 Minutes about formaldehyde levels in its laminate flooring all allege the company sold laminate flooring across the country featuring excessive levels of the chemical.
“I am a parent first and foremost. As a parent of young children, I completely understand and share the strong desire parents and other consumers have to know as soon as possible whether these products present a health risk,” CPSC Chairman Elliot F. Kaye said in a statement Wednesday. “We are taking it very seriously and moving aggressively to get the answers that consumers, especially parents of young children, deserve to have.”
CPSC is a federal agency tasked with protecting the public from injury or death associated with the use of consumer products. Kaye said Lumber Liquidators has been cooperative with the CPSC’s investigation and has pledged cooperation for its duration.
A completion date for the CPSC’s investigation has not been released, though in his statement, Kaye said the commission would work closely with other federal agencies “so consumers can have answers as quickly as possible.”
Kaye cautioned “the science does not provide the clarity we all wish it would” when it comes to analyzing the flooring for safety.
“Our work will involve testing of samples as well as consideration of home-based exposure scenarios to consider risks,” he said. “The science is well developed, but not fully developed on the risks associated with formaldehyde exposure, especially long term. On the long-term exposure in particular, we will need to rely on the expertise of our federal partners with jurisdiction and expertise in that area.”
The company has repeatedly denied the allegations of excessive levels of formaldehyde in its laminate flooring. After the 60 Minutes report aired March 1, the company posted online a lengthy rebuttal of the tests conducted in the show and began offering free in-home air test kits for qualifying customers who have installed its flooring.
In a statement issued March 2, the company said its products are “completely safe to use as intended” and the method of testing used by 60 Minutes was “improper.”
“In our attempt to be fair and transparent, we provided significant testing results to 60 Minutes, including the results of the random testing performed on products from each of our laminate suppliers,” the statement says. “We also went to great lengths to document issues between the validated test method and that used by 60 Minutes. Our Chairman addressed the differences and our position on the test methodology but 60 Minutes chose not to include it.”
The company has fielded several lawsuits due to formaldehyde allegations and allegations that it imported wood from the habitat of an endangered Asian tiger. The latter set of allegations prompted federal agents to raid the company’s headquarters in Toano and a storefront in Henrico County in September 2013.
Though some of the suits have been dropped, at least five remain active: one from a Fairfax County man seeking class-action status for everyone who purchased Chinese laminate flooring, one from a group of investors who allege they lost money because of damage to the company’s stock value due to the allegations, one from two environmental groups in California and two from pension funds from a small town in Florida that have invested in the company’s stock.
Trial dates have not been set for any of the suits.
Related Coverage:
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- Greenpeace: Lumber Liquidators Could Be Buying Illegal Wood from Brazil
- Customer Lawsuit Against Lumber Liquidators Dismissed
- One of Three Lawsuits Against Lumber Liquidators Dropped
- Lumber Liquidators Served with Third Class-Action Lawsuit
- Toano’s Lumber Liquidators Announces Expansion Plans
- Customers File Class-Action Lawsuit Against Lumber Liquidators
- Class Action Lawsuit Against Lumber Liquidators Seeks Damages for Shareholders
- Expert: Illegal Loggers Target Siberian Tiger Habitat for Proximity to Manufacturers
- Federal Agents Search Lumber Liquidators Headquarters in Toano
