South Korea Finds Children's Products Sold Causes Cancer

JAKARTA - Children's products sold on China's online retail platform, AliExpress, were found to contain cancer-causing substances up to 56 times higher than the rate permitted, according to the Seoul city government.

The city administration released findings after recently conducting security checks on 31 best-selling products for children and homes sold at AliExpress operated by Alibaba Group China, reported by ANTARA from Yonhap-OANA, Monday, April 8.

Toxic substances that far exceed the level of safety allowed to be found in eight products include swimming tires, two baby bites toy models, baby walking exercises, and leather bags for children.

Especially in children's leather bags, four types of phthalate content are found which are commonly used in plastic processing, in amounts that exceed the allowed levels as much as 55.6 times.

Additive substances for the addition of elasticity of products, classists, made from phthalates, pose a risk of causing infertility. One of the four methamphetamine-lastices identified in leather bags, DEHP, has been designated as a cancer-causing substance by the International Agency for Cancer Research.

The fthalate-based classist, exceeding the permitted rate 33 times, was also identified on swimming tires.

In addition, this product is known to pose a security risk due to a thickness of 0.19 millimeters, which is below the minimum allowed thickness in South Korea, which is 0.25 mm.

Meanwhile, the two baby bit toys tested are confirmed to have design defects that can cause weakness, while the baby's walking aid has a risk that the user is pinched or injured when he falls.

The Seoul city government said it plans to expand security testing to China's two leading online commercial platforms, Temu and Shein, to run a regular security check system.

Starting this fourth week of the month, the Seoul city government will release the results of weekly security checks, and operate a call service to receive consumer complaints about products imported privately from abroad.

Products worth about 6.8 trillion won (Rp79 trillion) were imported directly to South Korea from abroad last year, which was a sharp increase of 28.3 percent from the previous year.

Nearly half of the product, or 48.7 percent, is imported from China.

With 8.18 million active users per month in South Korea in February, AliExpress emerged as the second-largest online seller, after Coupang.

Products directly imported by consumers for personal use do not undergo safety checks, thus potentially posing safety risks, such as toxic substances, design defects, or poor durability.

According to Seoul city government officials, it plans to minimize losses suffered by consumers by immediately providing advice and assistance measures to affected consumers through cooperation with the Korean Consumer Agency, if needed.

In addition, the Seoul city government is building call services with a number of major online shopping platforms overseas.