A survey by the Consumers’ Foundation found none of 28 laundry products it had purchased at nine self-service laundromats met labelling requirements, raising concerns over their quality.
The foundation conducted a random survey on laundry detergents sold at nine laundromats in Greater Taipei on Aug. 30 and Aug. 31.
All of the 28 items inspected, which included washing powders, detergents, fabric softeners, sanitizers and anti-static dryer sheets, and sold at NT$10 per box or sachet, failed to meet legal labeling requirements.
“The manufacturers neglected to include some label contents required by law,” foundation chairman Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said. “The required information includes the company’s information, manufacturing location, expiration date, ingredients and volume.”
The survey found that 22 items did not have the manufacturer’s information and location printed on the package label, 26 items did not disclose ingredients, 24 items bore no volume description and all 28 items lacked an expiration date.
“These products all failed to include the legally required label contents and should not be allowed to be sold on the market,” Yu said.
He said authorities could impose fines of NT$20,000 to NT$200,000 if the companies do not correct the labels, in accordance with the Commodity Labeling Act (商品標示法).
Deputy head of inspection Mai Fu-der (麥富德) said fabric softeners can contain toxic chemicals that are harmful to human health, such as synthetic benzyl acetate, which has a jasmine smell and can irritate the respiratory tract, and benzyl alcohol, which can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting and light-headedness.
Most of the items inspected in the survey did not carry and ingredient list, so consumers could not know what chemicals they contained, Mai said, adding that the testers also found stained packages, but could not tell if the products had expired because they did not display expiration dates.
The foundation urged the government to produce guidelines for the manufacturers to follow.
REPORT: Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining loitering munitions matching the AeroVironment Switchblade 300 or the Anduril Altius-600, ‘Foreign Policy’ said Taiwan is seeking US-made kamikaze drones in an apparent concession to pressure from Washington to focus on asymmetric capabilities to defeat or deter a Chinese attack, Foreign Policy said in a report on Wednesday. Taipei has expressed an interest in obtaining AeroVironment Switchblade loitering munitions or other devices with similar capabilities, it said, citing four sources familiar with the matter commenting on condition of anonymity. The Switchblade 300 is a tube-launched drone designed for attacking ground troops, while its larger sibling, the Switchblade 600, could be used to destroy tanks and entrenched troops. Ukraine has utilized both systems extensively in its fight against
Police officers yesterday morning apprehended the prime suspect of a triple homicide case, after raiding the suspect’s hideout in Taichung. They transported the suspect to New Taipei City for questioning and recorded his statement last night. The suspect, identified as a 24-year-old man surnamed Chang (張), is believed to have used his hands to strangle his wife, surnamed Chen (陳), 29, along with his three-year-old son from a previous marriage and his wife’s mother, 69. The three dead bodies were wrapped in blankets when they were discovered inside their apartment in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) on Saturday. Chang was holding a
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said he considers Taiwan to be a better alternative to China as a strategic partner. Marton, who is the vice president of the opposition Momentum Party, made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency on Sunday. He draped a Republic of China flag across his shoulders to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to the capital city, Budapest, on Thursday last week, and openly voiced support for Taiwan on social media. He said in the interview that he wanted to remind the world that there were alternatives to China, and that “Taiwan has
A female physician at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital was bullied and made to work for 32 consecutive hours by a senior colleague while pregnant before later having a miscarriage, an internal investigation found, the hospital said on Monday. The perpetrator has been removed from his post, the hospital said. The attending physician in the hospital’s Medical Imaging Department, identified by the pseudonym Y, earlier on Monday told reporters that she had been bullied by a male senior colleague who arranged shifts in her department. In January, shortly after she became pregnant, Y asked the department director if she could avoid overnight