A number of products sold on Temu have dangerously high levels of harmful metals, a bombshell UK documentary claims
Temu launched 12 months ago in Australia, and has become a popular destination for ultra-cheap household products and fashion — including slides for $5.68, handbags for $7.07, and carry-size sewing kits for as low as $4.94.
The British series The Truth About Temu: Dispatches, which aired this week on Channel 4, sent a number of Temu-sold products to a toxicologist for rigorous testing.
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In the program, investigative reporter Ellie Flynn purchased a number of items from the website, including a silver effect necklace for £2.17 ($A4.16), gold effect chain for £2.97 ($A5.70) and a children’s jacket for £11.09 ($A21.27).
Flynn sent the items to a toxicology lab, which found the silver necklace had 10 times more lead than is legally allowed in a product in the UK.
The gold chain’s clasp contained 17mg per kg of lead, while another part of the product had 26.7mg per kg of lead, which both exceed the legal amount allowed in the UK.
According to the Mayo Clinic, excessive lead exposure can cause headaches, high blood pressure, mood disorders, or miscarriage, stillbirth or premature birth in pregnant women.
The gold chain also had 27 times more cadmium than is allowed in the UK, with prolonged exposure linked to kidney damage.
The children’s jacket Flynn purchased from Temu had 82.5mg per kg of antimony in brown material and 33.6mg per kg in the leather part of the jacket.
High levels of exposure to antimony — a semi-metal — is linked to problems with the skin, eyes along with the lungs, heart and stomach, according to the US Centres for Disease Control.
Temu later told Channel 4 it had removed the problematic items from the site and said the company was working with merchants selling on the site to ensure quality.
According to the Channel 4 report, Temu said: “We aim not just to meet the minimum legal requirements but to exceed them and will continue to devote significant resources to improving consumer protection.
“Temu takes the safety of products sold by third-party merchants … very seriously … we have a comprehensive vetting, monitoring, and enforcement process to ensure that products meet platform rules and regulatory requirements.
“We immediately remove any product listings in question pending a review.”
7NEWS.com.au reached out to Temu for a response to the allegations.
The Channel 4 documentary comes days after South Korean researchers found some children’s products sold by fast fashion behemoth Shein contained toxic substances hundreds of times above acceptable levels.
Temu concerns
It’s not the first time Temu has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons.
Recently, concerns were raised over the gamification of the online retail giant’s popular app, which some have claimed is causing an unhealthy obsession with the platform among users.
Earlier this month, Queensland University of Technology Business School senior lecturer Dr Shasha Wang joined Nat and Shirvo on Sunrise to discuss these concerns.
“(The app) is mostly based on the mechanism of games — it’s a balance between challenge and reward,” Wang said.
The Temu app has a spinning wheel element, for which shoppers can earn spins through purchases and receive discounts and free products.
”When people are spinning the wheel, it provides a challenge, they conquer a small challenge, but they get rewards in terms of incentives and coupons they can use that make it more enjoyable for consumers.
“In turn, they shop more and perhaps purchase more.”
And last month, Temu shoppers were warned about online scams — with cybersecurity expert Susan McLean speaking about possible privacy risks.
Temu has strenuously denied its website or app poses any risk to customers.
“I think every time you use online purchases or online shopping, there is a risk — we’ve seen that with other platforms being hacked over the years,” McLean said.
“We know that Temu, for example, is collecting a lot of data — it’s not hard to find that out.
“But the problem is people simply download the app and click ‘I accept’ without understanding what they’re actually accepting.”