Lumber Liquidators Inc. is the first company to face a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) investigation under new chairman Elliot Kaye.
CPSC announced the investigation after a “60 Minutes” report claimed dozens of floor samples contained elevated levels of formaldehyde. The agency acknowledge that the mere existence of the chemical, commonly used in adhesives, may not cause long-term health issues but that it would consider “home-based exposure scenarios” and “rely on the expertise of our federal partners.”
“I think it’ll be important to go back to that statement and see how things evolve and see if all of the things [Kaye] highlighted come to fruition,” said Jenifer Keenan, counsel and head of Alston & Bird’s Consumer Product Safety & Regulatory Compliance Group. “In particular, they say they’re looking at not just formaldehyde in the abstract, but home-based exposure scenarios – that’s an important concession there. There’s a lot in that statement and if things deviate significantly from the concerns and qualifiers he made there, that will be very telling.”
CPSC announced the investigation after a “60 Minutes” report claimed dozens of floor samples contained elevated levels of formaldehyde. The agency acknowledge that the mere existence of the chemical, commonly used in adhesives, may not cause long-term health issues but that it would consider “home-based exposure scenarios” and “rely on the expertise of our federal partners.”
“I think it’ll be important to go back to that statement and see how things evolve and see if all of the things [Kaye] highlighted come to fruition,” said Jenifer Keenan, counsel and head of Alston & Bird’s Consumer Product Safety & Regulatory Compliance Group. “In particular, they say they’re looking at not just formaldehyde in the abstract, but home-based exposure scenarios – that’s an important concession there. There’s a lot in that statement and if things deviate significantly from the concerns and qualifiers he made there, that will be very telling.”