Lumber Liquidators Won't Resume Sales of Inventory of Chinese-Made Laminate
June 17 2016 - 12:10AM
Dow Jones News
Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. has agreed not to resume the
sale of its inventory of Chinese-made laminate wood flooring at the
center of a cancer-risk controversy and pledged to continue testing
the floors.
The laminate flooring shouldn't be removed, officials warn, as
it could increase exposure to formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
Instead, consumers should contact the company to obtain a free
testing kit.
Shares, down nearly one-quarter this year, rose 10% to $14.52 in
after-hours trading.
More than 600,000 people bought the laminate flooring in
question in the U.S. over a roughly four-year period through May
2015, when the company stopped selling it, according to the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Lumber Liquidators said none of the more than 1,300 planks
tested so far came back with levels of formaldehyde above
government guidelines.
The company came under further scrutiny in March 2015 after the
CBS program "60 Minutes" aired a segment alleging the
laminate-flooring material sold by Lumber Liquidators and made in
China didn't meet California's emissions standards on levels of
formaldehyde.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Environmental
Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found that
eye, nose, and throat irritation could happen in some cases based
on higher formaldehyde emitting samples. Very high levels of
formaldehyde in homes could also be linked with a small increase in
cancer risk, the government officials found.
Lumber Liquidators has since put in place stricter safeguards
and sells laminate flooring only from North America and Europe.
The fallout, however, has dragged the company's results, pushing
it into its first annual loss in at least a decade.
In May, the company reported its loss widened more than fourfold
in the first quarter to $32.4 million as sales fell 10%.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 16, 2016 23:55 ET (03:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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