Tea kettle sales halted after find

Press, 29 August 1984, Page 8

Tea kettle sales halted after find

Sales of a brand of Taiwanese tea kettle have been stopped after the discovery of a concealed warning that they are unfit for human use.

About 50 Woolworths stores throughout New Zealand were being approached to determine how many of the kettles had been sold, said the giftware buyer for L. D. Nathan, Ltd, Miss Lyn Coyne. The kettles had been advertised as a "cast iron early American tea kettle and humidifier.”

They were taken off the shelves after a Christchurch resident, Mr Graeme Anderson, discovered the warning. It was underneath a sticky label on the box in which the kettle was packed. The sign said, “Water boiled in this kettle is not fit for human consumption.” “I had been using the kettle for a couple of weeks,” said Mr Anderson. Water left overnight in the kettle had started turning

brown with rust. His kettle has been sent to the Health Department for testing. The Director of Public Health, Dr C. M. Collins, said the Health Department had decided to take no immediate action. Woolworths would be advised of the department’s findings and left to publicise any possible dangers, he said. Dr Collins said he thought the kettles might contain metal impurities, such as lead. It was unlikely that anyone’s health had been

damaged by using them in the short time they had been on the market. “But continued use could do so,” he said. The kettles went on sale early in May. Miss Coyne said her firm had no idea that the kettles were unsafe. She believed they might have been wrongly packaged in Taiwan. She said Woolworths would refund in full the price of the kettle. “We have had a lot returned already,” she said.