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Walmart has announced another recall–and this time, the product has been linked to multiple deaths! Yikes, these recalls from the superstore are getting scarier and scarier. If you recall, the Arkansas-based chain announced a recall on baby food earlier this month, and now the box chain has pulled a popular room spray from its shelves after at least two people, including one child, died. This is horrible news, and not what we wanted to ever hear.
The product being pulled is Better Homes & Gardens Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray with Gemstones, a room spray that comes in the following appealing (yet reportedly deadly) flavors: Lavender, Lavender & Chamomile, Sandalwood & Vanilla, Lemon & Mandarin, Peppermint, and Lime & Eucalyptus.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Friday, October 22nd that it had recommended that Walmart pull approximately 3,900 containers of the room spray from shelves. The product was sold in 55 Walmart stores as well as online.
According to the release, tests were conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) following the deaths determined that a bottle of the spray “contained the rare and dangerous bacteria,” called Burkholderia pseudomallei. The bacteria causes melioidosis, a condition that the agency says “is difficult to diagnose and can be fatal.”
There have been four confirmed cases of melioidosis in the US, not yet linked to the Walmart spray, including two death, but at least one case of the bacteria was linked to the room spray in a household where a death occurred. Absolutely tragic!
