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Consumer council ‘wishes’ Danes would drop popular website

TheCopenhagenPost
May 11th, 2018


This article is more than 6 years old.

Report says Wish.com’s products violate EU law

Cheap and cheerful, sure, but what’s in those products? (photo: Wish)

Anyone using social media sees endless ads for the online retailer Wish.com.  The Danish Consumer Council Tænk Kemi (Think Chemicals) said that customers buying cosmetic products from Wish.com often do not know what is in the products they purchase through the popular online store.

Tænk Kemi ordered and examined 39 different cosmetic products fromWish.com, including many goods that are produced in and shipped from China.

“In many cases, products from these types of websites have proven to be of suspect quality,” read the company’s report. “Products from these websites may also have problems meeting EU legal and security requirements.”

No labels and dangerous chemicals
EU manufacturers of cosmetic products like creams, deodorants or mascara are required to include an ingredient list. Of the 39 products purchased by Tænk Kemi , 21 of them did not have the required ingredient list.

One cream that did have an ingredient list on the label was still in violation of EU laws because it contained two allergenic substances (methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone) that have been banned since February of last year.

“We cannot recommend purchasing personal care products and cosmetics on Wish.com”, said Stine Müller from Tænk Kemi. “Many of the products do not comply with EU cosmetics rules and do not list ingredients. A consumer has no idea what they are buying.

Change a challenge
Despite the warnings, It may be hard to get customers to stop using wish.com. The online shop very popular among consumers and is currently the fifth most popular online store in Denmark

READ MORE: Retailers complain of violation of pharmacy law by webshop

The Danish Association of Cosmetics and Detergents (SPT) said the website was “anti-competitive” for Danish and European manufacturers and put consumer safety at risk.

 


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”