New York’s Schumer Requests Safety Probe of Imported Flooring

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) is asking the Consumer Product Safety Commission to investigate the safety of Chinese-imported wood laminate flooring from Lumber Liquidators in Toano, Virginia, and initiate recalls if needed.

The New York Democrat says federal authorities should determine whether the flooring, which “60 Minutes” recently reported contains high levels of formaldehyde, complies with the industry’s voluntary standards for household products or pollutes the air inside homes and presents a hazard to human health.

Schumer said that newer homes, including those recently rebuilt after Superstorm Sandy, are more likely at risk.

Lumber Liquidators officials have said the retailer has no plans to stop selling laminate flooring made in China, that it was making free test kits available to customers and the television program “distorted the facts” and used a wrong test.