Tech trade publication The Information revealed on Tuesday that it had found a variety of baby products on Chinese e-commerce apps Temu and Shein that pose a risk to targeted users, including padded crib bumpers that the U.S. government has banned.
Temu and Shein are both consumer applications based in China. Shein specializes in “fast fashion” items for young women, but also sells clothing for men and children. Temu sells clothing as well as household goods, art supplies, and health products. Both sell what are widely considered to be very low quality products at cheap prices.
These companies are large international operations that generate billions of dollars in profits for their Chinese owners, especially in the United States. Reached Record profit of $2 billion in 2023 (up from $700 million in 2022) Late It is third only to Amazon and Walmart in online fast fashion sales in the United States. PinduoduoThe company, which runs a parallel discount goods retailer in China, saw its net profit rise 246% in the first quarter of 2024. 60 percent 50% of Temu’s transactions in 2023 were in the United States.
The success of both companies is due in large part to pricing them well below competitors’ prices and the ability to ship products directly from Chinese suppliers to U.S. consumers without the use of middlemen. Both companies’ trade practices have come under intense criticism in the U.S., where evidence suggests that both are linked to China’s widespread Uighur slave trade, which is at the root of the ongoing genocide of Uighurs in occupied East Turkestan. Shein has also been accused of stealing copyrighted designs to rapidly manufacture clothing, and Temu is facing a lawsuit in Arkansas for essentially running a “data theft business” of its customers.
information Added On Tuesday, the paper’s reporters reported concerns about Americans using Temu and Shein after they found products sold through the children’s apps that could pose serious risks. The paper’s biggest concern was the availability of padded crib bumpers to soften the sides of babies’ cribs. Passed The Safe Baby Sleep Act of 2021 banned crib bumpers based on significant evidence that they could suffocate a baby if they fell on their face while sleeping.
The drawstring hoodies were found for sale on Shein in very small children’s sizes. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission explain “Hoods and neck drawstrings are prohibited on children’s outerwear sizes 2T through 12 (or equivalent) because they can become wrapped around a child’s neck and pose a choking hazard,” the company says on its website.
“The Commission has determined that the hood and neck drawstrings on children’s outerwear sizes 2T through 12 or equivalent present a choking hazard and pose a significant product hazard,” the Commission explains. “Further, the Commission has determined that waist and hem drawstrings on children’s outerwear that do not meet certain requirements also pose a significant product hazard.”
The report also found that several products that Tem identified as “baby products” were labeled for pets, even though they were clearly designed for babies and the product reviews mentioned their use on babies.
According to the Information, Tem and Shane removed the list of products identified as dangerous after being asked for comment. Tem told the media that it was “strengthening its monitoring of all crib products and their associated safety requirements,” but did not provide details. Shane responded by assuring that it would take “prompt and necessary measures” if any dangerous products were presented.
This isn’t the only report identifying dangerous products being sold on Chinese apps: In May, South Korean consumer safety authorities said they had tested Shein fashion products and found high levels of toxic substances.
“Unlike officially imported goods, products purchased directly from overseas enter the country without undergoing separate safety inspections, making them a de facto safety blind spot,” said a Seoul city official. said “We cannot stand by and watch while the public’s health is put at risk, so we are publishing the results of tests we carry out with expert institutions every week.”
Tests showed that the shoes sold by Shein contained 428 times the normal amount of phthalates, a potentially toxic chemical.
The Seoul metropolitan government again announced in August that feminine care products sold by Temu and Shein, as well as another Chinese e-commerce site, AliExpress, contained toxins.
“The latest inspections examined 144 products from Shein, AliExpress and Temu and found multiple products from all companies did not meet legal standards,” AFP reported. Reported Tests found that in addition to phthalates, products sold on these websites, including clothing, shoes and nail polish, contained unacceptable levels of formaldehyde and lead.
“Phthalate plasticizers can affect reproductive function, including reducing sperm count, and can lead to infertility and premature birth,” a Seoul official told AFP.
The safety concerns facing Tem and Shane are in addition to concerns expressed by U.S. authorities that the companies are profiting from slavery, intellectual property theft, and the exploitation of so-called “trade loopholes.” Very littleUnder the U.S. Department of Labor’s (UDR) rules, internationally imported packages worth less than $800 do not have to pay certain import taxes and are not screened for potential links to slave labor. This loophole specifically protects packages of shein and tem, which often cost around $11, from the scrutiny of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which bans imports from East Turkestan unless importers can prove the products are not tainted by slave labor.
The Chinese government is facilitating slavery by massacring the indigenous Uighur people in East Turkestan, a region the Communist Party colonized and renamed the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Human rights experts have gathered extensive evidence that the government is using websites to sell Uighurs into slave labor groups of 50 to 100 to factories across the country, where they work in brutal conditions.
In June 2023, the House Select Committee on Communist China warned that it found Americans who shop at Shein and Temu were at “extremely high risk” of purchasing products tainted by slavery.
