Dimethyl fumarate is a fungicide and sensitizer:
It appears it's made its way into some Chinese-manufactured leather sofas, and caused ill effects consistent with a sensitizer (basically an allergen) in some people.
Product-safety stories: they feel almost idyllic - they hearken back to last year, when all you worried about was contaminated imports and not global financial collapse.
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Don't be too smug. Legislated massive infusions of fire retardants into everything from cotton upholstery to naugahyde nominally protect smokers against evolution in action. Said safety nets test as cryptoestrogens and mutagens. They are intensely lipophilic.
It is better that 300 million Americans be dunned and harmed than one idiot be allowed to suffer the consequences of personal responsibility. We are from the government. We are here to help ourselves to you for the nicest possible reasons.
The use of the biocide (DMF) dimethylfumarate - which has caused severe allergic reactions in hundreds of consumers, because of its use in every day consumer products such as couches and shoes - looks set to be banned across the EU. Today, EU Member States voted in favour of a draft European Commission Decision to ensure that consumer products, such as leather furniture or footwear, containing the strongly sensitising (DMF) are not placed on the market in the EU. If already on the market, these products will have to be recalled and withdrawn without delay. In countries such as France, Finland, Poland, Sweden and the UK, consumers exposed to products containing DMF, have experienced serious health problems including skin itching, irritation, redness, burns and, in some cases, acute respiratory difficult.