Products contain excessive harmful substances! Temu is at the center of controversy again

Since its launch in South Korea in July 2023, Temu has expanded rapidly in the country. Despite not conducting direct business, its number of users and sales have achieved significant growth in just a few months.

However , Temu’s rapid rise has also triggered a series of problems and controversies.

Recently, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that half of the children's products sold on Chinese cross-border platforms such as Temu were found to be "unsuitable for use" after testing because they contained excessive levels of harmful chemicals and carcinogens.

It is understood that the focus of this inspection is on "children's products" that consumers are expected to buy in large quantities before Children's Day , including children's shoes and accessories, bathtubs, toothbrushes, picnic chairs, car window sunshades, swimming caps, etc., a total of 22 products.

Among the 16 accessories used to decorate children's sandals and sneakers tested , seven products had phthalate plasticizer content 348 times higher than the national safety standard. Another children's car window sunshade was also found to have phthalate plasticizer content about 324 times higher than the standard. At the same time, these two types of products were also found to have excessive lead content.

It must be pointed out that a number of unqualified substances were also found in this test, such as the cadmium content in the children's bathtub exceeded the standard by 6.3 times, and the lead content in the children's shower cap exceeded the standard by 20 times.

Based on this situation, Kim Kyung-mee, head of the fair economy department of the Seoul Metropolitan Government , said that after weekly safety inspections, the test results will be announced so that the public can understand the items they buy. In addition, products that enter Korea through direct purchases from overseas and do not have the necessary KC certification will face the risk of being removed from the shelves.

Along with the exposure of product safety, personal information leakage and environmental issues have also been raised one after another, which can be said to be one wave after another.

Relevant reports pointed out that Chinese e-commerce platforms, including Temu, require Korean users to provide a lot of personal information, such as real -time location, mobile phone model , etc. Local consumers , worried about the leakage of private information , have reported the relevant platforms to the police and accused them of violating the Personal Information Protection Act.

In addition , the environmental problems caused by Temu's ultra-low-priced products have also attracted widespread attention.

On the one hand, most of the products on Temu are made of cheap materials such as plastics and synthetic fibers, which are difficult to recycle and decompose after being discarded. On the other hand, data released by Brightly shows that Temu delivers more than 1.6 million packages every day, resulting in a large accumulation of packaging waste , and the platform is heavily dependent on air transport ( the carbon dioxide emissions of 1 kg of air transport packages are about 50 times more than those of sea transport), which has exacerbated environmental degradation. In response, Greenpeace asked it to disclose the environmental impact data of its related businesses.

In general, low-priced goods may bring short-term benefits to consumers, but the quality and environmental issues behind them cannot be underestimated. Relevant platforms should continuously optimize their products to ensure long-term development in the e-commerce market.

Temu

investigation