The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its report on February 18, showing that people exposed to the laminated flooring sold by the company were three times more likely to get cancer than previously thought.
According to Reuters, the CDC’s revised estimates of cancer risk is 6-30 cases per 100,000 people, compared with the 2-9 cases it had previously estimated. The CDC said it is currently conducting a quality review of the indoor air model used and the revised results, and will post the report when it is available.
CNN Money points out the CDC report did not mention if the laminated lumber being tested was still being sold at Lumber Liquidators, nor did it mention the company by name. However, the CDC report triggered a number of press releases over the weekend linking Lumber Liquidators to the increased cancer risk.
The company has been fighting charges that its laminated flooring posed a cancer risk since a report aired on CBS’s “60 Minutes” in March 2015. While the company denied the flooring was unsafe, stocks took a plunge and the CEO ended up resigning. The company ended up halting the sale of the questionable lumber in May that year.
To add to its woes, in October last year, Lumber Liquidators agreed to plead guilty to a violation of the Lacey Act, a conservation law regarding the protection of plants, fish and wildlife, for making false import declarations about the origin of the timber used in its hardwood flooring. That violation cost the company $10 million.
