Walmart has recalled a line of Mainstays Five-Piece Card Table and Chair Sets over reports that the set poses a risk of collapsing suddenly and causing injuries. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Walmart has received 10 reports of injuries from the collapsing of the chairs found in the set, including reports of three finger amputations and at least one report each of additional finger injuries and a sore back.
Nearly 73,400 Mainstays card table and chair sets are involved in the recall, which was implemented on January 2, 2014 under recall number 14-075. The CPSC is urging consumers to stop using the recalled card table and chair set immediately, and return the product to any Walmart store for a full refund.
The Mainstays Five-Piece Card Table and Chair Set, manufactured by Heshan Camis Industrial Co. Ltd., of Guangdong, China, was sold in Walmart stores nationwide as well as on Walmart.com from the period of May 2013 to November 2013 for approximately $50 each. The table and chair set consists of a black, padded metal folding table that includes four padded, black metal folding chairs. Additionally, the printed name of the set’s cushion manufacturer, Dongguan Shin Din Metal & Plastic Products Co., can be found on a white label located at the bottom of each folding chair.
“It’s unfortunate that products like this table can make it to customers without either the producing or selling companies fully evaluating whether they are potentially dangerous,” commented Daniel Nigh, a personal injury and product liability lawyer with the Levin, Papantonio law firm.
This is the second recall in less than a month that Walmart has announced on a product sold in its stores. Just last week, Walmart recalled donkey meat supplies found in Walmart stores in China after DNA tests on the meat stock found traces of fox meat.
Furthermore, in October 2013, the mega-store was also involved in another controversy after Mercy for Animals, an animal rights group, released a video documenting mistreatment of pigs at the Pipestone, MN location of Walmart’s U.S. pork supplier, Rosewood Farms.
The video showed workers at the meat plant shoving and punching adult pigs as well as slamming piglets heads onto the floor by their hind legs. An investigation of animal abuse was launched by the Pipestone County Sheriff’s Office after the video was released to the public, further tainting Walmart’s image as a trusted food products seller to consumers.
Krysta is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow her on Twitter @KrystaLoera.
