An 11 year-old girl has suffered severe third-degree burns after allegedly using nail glue purchased from a popular Chinese online retailer.
Jamie Oliver, father to 11-year-old Chloe told the Daily Mail his daughter was “left in hospital” after she had used an “at-home manicure set”, which she had proudly purchased with her own money from online outlet Temu.
The Chinese-based company, known for marketing a wide range of products from children’s clothing to BB guns at low prices, has experienced massive growth since its launch less than two years ago.
Now a British documentary is documenting number of grim realities about the products Temu sells on its global platform. Filmmakers say they uncovered “dangerously high levels” of harmful metals through product testing.
Concerns continue to mount over a number of issues with the online retail giant, from the brands practices to the quality of its products.
Temu also made headlines earlier this month when it controversially offered shoppers “enormous discounts” in return for use of their personal data.
Parent company Pinduoduo earlier this month said it had tripled net profit in the first quarter of 2024 to $3.88 billion (A$5.38bn), up 246 per cent from the same period last year.
When Temu expanded last year into the EU market, the platform quickly accumulated an average of 75 million monthly active users.
However despite the numbers, the shopping app has faced problems. In March this year, a promotional campaign in Britain and France failed due to data privacy concerns.
Now British free-to-air public broadcaster, Channel 4, has released a documentary titled ‘The Truth About Temu’, putting the platform under the microscope again.
The documentary, which aired earlier this week, found Temu to be selling items which have “dangerously high” levels of lead.
In the 30-minute program, investigative reporter Ellie Flynn buys various items from the website, thoroughly tests them, and checks the legitimacy of each product with external organisations.
She bought a number of items, including a silver effect necklace for £2.17 (A$4.16), and a children’s jacket jacket for £11.09 (A$21.28).
Channel 4 states that “none of the items listed any ingredients” on the website.
The purchased items were sent to a toxicology lab for testing to identify if the materials used were safe to wear.
The report came back from a professor of organic chemistry, Laurence Harwood, at the University of Reading, stating: “The silver necklace contained 10 times more lead than is legally allowed in the UK”.
“When lead builds up in the body, often over months or years, even small amounts of lead can lead to serious health problems [such as] reduced sperm count, miscarriages [and] stillbirth,” he said.
The children’s jacket was also tested and the results showed it contained 82.5mg/kg of antimony in the brown material and 33.6mg/kg in the leather.
Antimony is typically found in a variety of applications, including flame retardants, alloys, electronics, and in the production of certain plastics.
It is toxic in high concentrations and can pose health risks if ingested or inhaled.
“These are absolutely unacceptable higher levels of antimony. Over a long period of time this could have very, very bad effects on the body, in particular the nervous system,” said Mr Harwood.
The organic chemist said he was “very concerned” about the results from the testing and said children younger than six are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning which can have serious effects on their development.
“In pregnant women, it can cause stillbirth. It can cause neurological issues in old and young alike,” he said.
Temu told Channel 4 that some items exceeded safe metal levels, which they have now “removed permanently”and are “cooperating with the merchants”.
We [Temu] aim not just to meet the minimum legal requirements but to exceed them and will continue to devote significant resources to improving consumer protection,” a spokesperson said.