Only 2 Sealy Beds Certified for Radon by KSA
This Limited to Special Sales and Large Stores... Hard for General Consumers to Obtain
Stores Promote "Radon is Safe"
Sealy, a famous American mattress brand with a 140-year history, has been revealed to be managing radon certification in South Korea in a superficial manner. Radon is a radioactive substance recently highlighted in national discussions, including the Fukushima contaminated water discharge issue, and is a major cause of various cancers such as lung cancer. Sealy faced social backlash in 2019 when large amounts of radon, a radioactive substance, were detected in its mattresses.
According to the radon certification status disclosed by the Korea Standards Association (KSA) on the 23rd, only two companies, Sealy and Simmons, currently hold radon certification for bed mattresses in South Korea. KSA is a public-related organization under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and is the official domestic issuer of radon safety certifications. After the so-called 'radon mattress incident' in 2018, many mattress companies obtained KSA certification, but gradually withdrew, and now only two companies maintain certification.
The problem is that, contrary to Sealy’s promotion of being radon-safe through online and offline channels, only two mattress models, 'Harmony' and 'Moderato,' are currently certified as radon-safe by KSA. At a Sealy store in Seoul, a radon certification document was displayed inside, and an employee told customers, "Our products do not exceed the radon standard, so don’t worry." This could create the perception that all Sealy products are 'radon-free.' However, the store did not have Harmony or Moderato products. An employee at a Sealy store in Suwon also encouraged mattress purchases, saying, "There is no need to worry about radon at all." That store also did not sell KSA-certified products.
The two mattresses certified by KSA from Sealy are difficult for general consumers to purchase. When asked at a Sealy store whether the KSA-certified Harmony product could be purchased, the employee said, "It is currently unavailable." Harmony is a special product for B2B (business-to-business) sales and is sold only to hotels. Moderato is available only at some large stores such as Costco. This means that both radon-certified products from Sealy cannot be purchased through common consumer sales channels such as department stores, furniture districts, or online shopping malls.
In 2019, Sealy faced public criticism when six mattress models (357 units) were found to emit radiation levels up to four times higher than the safety standards set by the Act on the Safety Control of Radiation around Living Environments. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, which conducted the investigation, stated that if the products were used 10 hours daily at a height of 2 cm above the surface, the exposure dose would reach 1.125 to 4.436 millisieverts (mSv). The legal safety standard is 1 mSv per year. At that time, Sealy issued an apology to customers and recalled the products.
After the radon incident, Sealy maintained radon certification for eight main products until last year but reduced the number to two this year. A Sealy representative explained, "Only two products were certified because the same raw materials are used across various models," adding, "Certification costs were also considerable." The representative further stated, "Currently, all mattresses sold domestically are measured for radon and other substances using the radioactive material detection device (RAD7) from the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety." They added, "We only sell products when measurement results are below the general public’s allowable annual exposure dose of 1 mSv, and all products meet this standard."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
