Metal tissue holders sold at Bed Bath & Beyond stores in Orange County have been found to emit low levels of radiation and consumers should not use them, the California Department of Public Health announced late Friday.
The holders, known as “Dual Ridge Metal Boutique,” were sold at 200 stores out of 1,000 across the country and online. They have been pulled from shelves, although Bed Bath & Beyond said the radiation, while not “desirable,” was not harmful.
Locally, the boxes were sold at stores in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Yorba Linda, the state said.
According to the state, the tissue boxes became contaminated with cobalt-60, a man-made product typically used to sterilize medical products or in radiation treatment for cancer. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that scrap metal containing cobalt-60 could have strayed into a metal load smelted in India that was used to make the tissue box holders.
Bed Bath & Beyond said the product had been sold since August 2011. The company said customers should return the boxes for a full refund.
The company said this on its website: “According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), although any unnecessary radiation exposure is not desirable, there is no threat to anyone’s health from these tissue holders. The NRC has also informed us that the material is believed to be in the tissue holder itself and cannot be inhaled, nor can it contaminate other objects (such as tissues).”
Radiation exposure is linked to cancer. Click here for more information from the Environmental Protection Agency.
To reach the company, call 800-462-3966
Bed Bath & Beyond pulls tissue holder that emits radiation is a post from: Healthy Living - The Orange County Register
