City
Epaper

Stop sale of 'deadly' stuff on Amazon, US lawmakers to Bezos

By IANS | Updated: August 30, 2019 16:20 IST

Taking cognizance of a media report that exposed how Amazon facilitated trade of unsafe, banned products on its platform, three lawmakers in the US have written to the e-commerce giant's CEO Jeff Bezos, urging him to take swift action to stop wrongful sale of "deadly" products.

Open in App

"Unquestionably, Amazon is falling short of its commitment to keeping safe those consumers who use its massive platform," the three Senate Democrats wrote in the latter sent to Bezos on Thursday.

The letter mentioned the recent investigation by the Wall Street Journal that found more than 4,000 items for sale on Amazon's site that "have been declared unsafe by federal agencies, are deceptively labelled, or are banned by federal regulators."

The investigation revealed the availability of myriad problematic items on the e-commerce site including defective helmets, toys and cosmetics incorrectly labelled as US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, unregistered pesticides, and pain relievers lacking appropriate FDA warning labels, among others.

The letter mentioned the traumatic story of a family whose life Amazon's negligence changed forever.

The incident involved 23-year-old Albert Stokes who died in a motorcycle crash in 2014 when his helmet came off. The helmet, purchased from Amazon, was not compliant with federal safety standards and had been recalled.

While the helmet in question has been removed from Amazon's site, many other problematic items remain on Amazon's platform, the letter mentioned.

Senators Richard Blumenthal, Robert Menendez and Edward Markey asked why the safety efforts at Amazon have failed to prevent the sale of mislabelled, recalled and other unsafe products.

They also asked what steps Amazon is taking to identify and remove problematic items from the platform.

The lawmakers asked Bezos to reply to their questions by September 29.

In response to the WSJ report, Amazon is blog post said that it invests "significant resources to protect our customers and have built robust programmes designed to ensure products offered for sale in our store are safe and compliant".

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: amazonfdaAlbert StokesRichard Blumenthal
Open in App

Related Stories

PunePune: Action to Be Taken Against Use of Calcium Carbide to Ripen Mangoes

EntertainmentOTT Releases This Week: Khauf, Mere Husband Ki Biwi, Logout, Daveed & More – Top Picks for Your Weekend Watchlist

EntertainmentOTT Releases This Week: Chhaava, Chhorii 2, Court, Perusu & More – Top Picks for Your Weekend Watchlist

MumbaiMumbai: FDA Seizes Medicines Worth Rs 61.95 Lakh from Ghatkopar-Based Drug Firm

MumbaiFrom Andheri To Canada: Mumbai Police Arrests Five For Duping Canadians For Iphone

कारोबार Realted Stories

BusinessMillions benefited from Ayushman health cards, now is the time for Delhi: Hardeep Puri

BusinessViksit Bharat will be driven by start-ups and innovation: IIT Madras Director

BusinessIndia sees robust 10.35 pc annual growth in domestic airline passengers in FY25

BusinessSwiggi Instamart to create dedicated 'cooperative' category on its platform, signs MoU

BusinessIDFC FIRST Bank posts nearly 60 pc net profit loss at Rs 295.6 crore in Q4 FY25