In a grave mistake, thousands of sofas made in China and sold in the UK were treated with a chemical that turned out to be toxic to human skin. Over 1000 people were severely injured, including babies and elderly people. At first, hospitals were baffled by the patients turning up with raw burns on their skin; it wasn’t until they discovered that they were all new sofa owners that the link was made.

Major stores such as Land of Leather, Argos and Walmsleys sold these toxic sofas to unsuspecting customers, which resulted in serious burns. Today it has been announced that those affected will receive compensation, each taking part of a £20 million pay out. The deal was sanctioned by High Court judges.

Aside from burns on their skin, people also suffered from breathing complaints and problems with their eyes. Around 1650 people are now relieved to be looking forward to some compensation for their injuries. The only disgruntled customers are from Land of Leather, who will not accept responsibility and are not currently offering any compensation to some of those affected. It is thought that around 350 people who suffered from burns will not see any money. They are expected to contest this decision.

Those who are receiving compensation can expect to see between £1000 and £9000, depending on how serious their injuries were. The chemical Dimethyl Fumarate (DMF) was responsible for the toxic burns; it was put into shipments of sofas from China. This chemical is used to prevent mould developing on leather, but it has now been banned in the EU due to the adverse reactions it has caused in at least 5 countries.

The worrying fact is that around 200,000 of the contaminated sofas have been sold; many more people may have suffered without knowing the cause of their ailments. Luckily, none of the lovely girls at our London escort agency have been affected, but it is likely that other people in the city of London have.

If anyone is suffering from painful or itchy burns or rashes, breathing difficulties or eye problems since purchasing a new leather sofa, you are advised to seek medical advice as soon as possible. It can be a very traumatic experience; some people panicked and thought that they had something life threatening such as skin cancer. The best thing is to consult your doctor and take things from there.