Woman Recieves Severe Chemical Burns From Flip Flops

[Earth_First]

Woman Recieves Severe Chemical Burns From Flip Flops; Wal Mart Tells Her to Complain to Manufacturer.

A woman from Florida claims to have purchased some flip flops from Walmart, put them on her feet... only to suffer some sort of severe chemical burn along the lines where the straps of the flip flop met her feet.

She's been documenting the process as the chemical burns get worse and worse... and oh my god. It's horrible. First it's just a red angry burn, but soon blisters appear and then break open. It's just getting worse and worse.

Well, after wearing them my feet would be red and sort of tingly, but I figured that it was just because it was first flip flops of the year so my feet need to get used to them. Blabity blabity... Well I have now had this chemical burn for 11 days, (As of July 3rd) I really thought it would just go away on it's own. It is absolutely going away very well at all...this started on June 22nd 2007 and has just gotten worse basically. I have only worn those shoes 15 minutes here, half an hour there, hour there...and so on, NOT enough time to burn my feet like this!

She's tried to contact Walmart to ask them to stop selling the flip flops, but their response was to tell her to contact the manufacturer in China.

Kerry describes her attempts to warn Walmart about the shoes:

"I called the home office and nicely explained that I used to be an employee, and I bought the shoes, and I just want to make sure that no kids were hurt...bla bla. The home office was pretty decent about the entire thing. Then the store in Summerfield called, July 2nd 1:44 pm and left a voicemail, They told me I had to come in. The GM (Richard) told me who to talk with the training manager (Mike Sidel) and when he would be in. He (Richard) seems to be a nice guy. I went in 15 minutes to a half an hour after getting the voicemail. I thought it was important to go in there.

I couldn't believe how rude and mean, and obnoxious Mike was to me, he acted like I was making it all up, I tried to show him my injuries so he would take it a bit more seriously & he turned his head away so that he could say he never saw it. Infact, everyone in the office was acting as if I were the "bad guy" I told him the details and he filled out a report. He asked me,

"well, what do you want me to do about this?" I told him that "if there was infact a problem with the shoes that I wanted to make sure someone knows so this doesn't happen to anyone else" .
He told me "well, nothing will come of this because you bought them in April and you are just now reporting this?"

When I tried to explain the timeline to him he didn't want to listen and turned his back on me so I just quit talking"

If this is a hoax it's the most crazy, painful, scary hoax ever. Kerry is asking that people help her get the flip flops recalled and we don't blame her.

Has this happened to anyone else? Kerry says another woman emailed her to say she also had chemical burns on her feet from the flip flops. Anyone else? Both woman supposedly bought the flip flops from Walmart in April





http://consumerist.com/consumer/dangerous-defects/woman-receives-severe-chemical-burns-from-flip-flops-walmart-tells-her-to-complain-to-manufacturer-280572.php

[piedmont]

1. This was posted a while back and I still think it's an allergic reaction.

She's probably developed an allergy to either the rubber or some chemical in the rubber. They sold tens of thousands of these things, and they were causing chemical burns you'd see more than just two or three people having a rash.

[aquart]

5. My sister can't wear them because of allergic reaction.

But she had the brains to take them off when it started.

[sakabatou]

2. More crap coming from China

But if it's some sort of reaction, then who knows :shrug:

[niyad]

3. WHY did this woman keep wearing the flip flops? how stupid could she be?

[aquart]

4. That would be my question.

[MiniMe]

7. She didn't, and there are a lot of people that emailed her and sent pictures

that had the exact same reaction. Here is the link to the 3rd page of her blog where she posts pics and emails from other people. http://www.lamanaphotography.com/walmart3.htm

[stirlingsliver]

15. Stupid? Not At All!

She's not stupid.

She has excellent hearing.

In fact, I bet she can hear a "Kaching!" from a mile away.

[Sanctified]

6. I would think if it was something chemical in the flip flops

we would be seeing a lot of people with these burns. Maybe an allergic reaction to the material of the flip flops, I have heard people who are seriously allergic to latex could get something that looks like that.

[uppityperson]

8. Looks like a latex allergy

beware using latex condoms, if this happens to you.

[TexanDem]

9. may be allergic reaction - but it's prudent to take heed!

I sure won't be buying any.
Good post.

[IChing]

10. Her name is Kerry and she complains about flip-flops

that littlle piece of irony aside.

Thank you for shopping Wal-Mart. I haven't shopped there for years

[HCE SuiGeneris]

14. Been in a walmart twice, never again will that occur.

Nice pic btw.

[Lint Head]

11. I just had surgery and one of the questions they ask you is,

"Are you allergic to latex?" People do had reactions to plastic products. I think the plastic industry needs to be regulated more.
When siding on houses burn it causes deadly toxins to be released. That' why we need to go to hemp based products.
You can tell in many products by the odor plastic emits that there is a chemical reaction going on. It can't be safe to breath.:dem:

[MissWaverly]

13. yes, and they also make balloons and disposable gloves

from latex, so if you are allergic be careful.

[intheflow]

16. And paints.

One of my co-workers had to be rushed to the emergency room one Monday morning after the offices had been painted over the weekend.

[MissWaverly]

17. yes, of course, latex paints

good that you added that.

[piedmont]

18. There's no latex rubber in latex paints.

http://www.paint.org/con_info/latex.cfm

Latex Paint and Allergies

Q. Does latex paint pose a threat to those who suffer from latex allergies?
A. No, latex paint is not made with latex rubber; in fact the name “latex” is really just a decorative way to describe rubber-based paint. Latex paint is a carefully formulated polyvinyl material with acrylic resin and has never contained natural rubber. It is natural rubber that causes an allergic reaction. So people who have sensitivity to latex products are in no danger of having a reaction to latex paint.

[MissWaverly]

19. well, thank you for that info

[Miss Chybil]

12. Did she go to the doctor? It looks like an allergy to me, as well. nt