Consumers who purchased unsafe children's clothes with high formaldehyde or amine content are entitled to refunds, the city's quality supervision bureau and major department stores said yesterday.

The marketing manager of Moi group, surnamed Ou, told the Shenzhen Daily that all unsafe children's clothes found in its Dongmen store earlier this week had been recalled.

"The brand Betty Body withdrew all stock and will give a full refund to any customer who brought their products," said Ou.

However, major department stores and supermarkets including Wal-Mart and Jusco said there was no effective way to screen unsafe children's clothes.

"The only thing we could do to prevent unsafe clothes is the blacklist provided by the watchdog," said a spokeswoman surnamed Han for Jusco, another store accused of selling unsafe children's clothes.

"We have no way to know whether the clothes contain formaldehyde or not unless the inspection authorities announce the blacklist," said Ou. He said all vendors were required to provide a safety inspection report issued by the national quality inspection authority. Ou emphasized that some unsafe children's clothes were sold by famous clothing companies, which had been in the business for several years.

Wal-Mart, which had also found unsafe clothes, said through a public relations officer that the issue was still under investigation.

The provincial industry and commerce administration bureau inspected 91 batches of clothes in 22 department stores and supermarkets in six cities including Shenzhen. More than 66 percent of the children's clothes were substandard, and 42 percent were found to have a high level of formaldehyde. Among the clothing brands placed on the substandard list were Betty Body, Good Baby, Mina, E. Baby, D.D.Cat, Gute, Haqi and Ericland.

Stores on the bureau's blacklist include Wal-Mart, Moi, Jusco, Vanguard, Lotus Supercenter and Teem Plaza.

The municipal industry and commerce administration bureau hotline, 12315, is open for complaints about substandard products.

Formaldehyde is a respiratory irritant and a sensitizer for other chemicals.

It is used for manufacturing fertilizers, dyes and embalming fluids, and in aqueous solution as a preservative and disinfectant.

If inhaled in large doses, it can be carcinogenic.

(Shenzhen Daily June 1, 2006)