Glitsa Swedish Finish (America Finish) paints, varnishes or shellacs

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. Seen by a doctor or nurse

   Made Sep 24, 2018 · , sent to the company Oct 2, 2018 · , published by CPSC Oct 17, 2018

   The product, in the report: Glitsa Swedish Finish - contains formaldehyde and used to seal hardwood floors. The product was applied by Goss Flooring company. Goss Flooring had said it was Glitsa America Finish which is a Swedish-based finish.

   Prior to getting sick I was exercising 6 - 7 days a week; teaching at least 4 [REDACTED] classes a week and swimming twice a week. I was growing my business and hired a couple of instructors. Plus I was involved in a project for filming for [REDACTED]. I was healthy and fit and rarely got sick. If I did get sick, symptoms were mild and usually only lasted a couple of days. But it all changed after we got our new hardwood floors placed with Glitsa Swedish Finish by a local hardwood floor company (Goss Floors).

   Because there were multiple other stressors occurring, it took awhile to figure out why I wasn’t getting better. After what initially seemed to be a cold continued to manifest with worsening fatigue and lung pain, I was diagnosed with reactivation of EBV (mono virus). I thought maybe I had done too much with multiple work projects as well as renovating the upstairs of our home and dealing with a cat who had been sick for months. I started to question whether I had the capacity to do a large scale project and work alongside well-known professionals.

   My illness was initially blamed on pneumonia, but even after antibiotics, normal lab results except for EBV, I felt something was wrong. The one thing that concerned me was that my lung capacity when tested with an Incentive Spirometer was abnormal. Though it was blamed on inflammation. But what was causing the inflammation? Pneumonia continued to be ruled out by multiple providers. And yes, there was the reactivation of EBV, but something else seemed wrong. The final straw was waking up early on a Monday morning and having difficulty breathing. I felt I couldn’t take a full deep breath and started getting anxious. After an hour of not being able to sleep and struggling with breathing, I had my husband take me to the ER. However, my vital signs were stable and since my previous lab work and Chest X-ray were normal, the doctor didn’t know what else to do. I remember starting to cry, because I knew something was wrong, but I wasn’t getting the answers I needed. He sent me home with a prescription for steroids and antibiotics (though he thought infection was unlikely the cause).

   When we returned home from the ER, I noticed the floors seemed to be smelling more. I didn’t think further about it and just went back to bed. However, the next day I started doing more research trying to figure out what was going on and realized the worsening of symptoms was occurring because the floors were off-gassing more with the rise in temperatures. After talking with a couple of providers they confirmed that this was the likely cause of my symptoms. I moved outside and started sleeping in a tent (inside our tipi) and started spending most of my time outdoors. I would only go inside to shower, grab clothes, or get some food. While my symptoms didn’t go away, they stopped getting worse (which was huge). Then I started focusing on ways to help heal from the damage caused from the Glitsa Swedish finish which we later found out contained formaldehyde. Two months after I began having symptoms which I now know was from formaldehyde, we finally discovered the cause. When I reflected back I realized the first symptoms I experienced were difficulty sleeping, nausea, poor appetite, and headaches.

   We were never told about the risks of this finish by Goss flooring company or that it wasn’t recommended to be used around young children. My daughter who is 6 years old was getting headaches and we now know why. My 9 year old son was having stomach aches and my husband was having increasing muscle pain (which he blamed on all the labor he had been doing). Our family then moved outside into our tipi for the summer and limited our time upstairs. We even had a sitter come to our house for a day and she was spending some time upstairs cleaning up. She noticed chest tightness and the next day was completely exhausted. Over 3 months after our floors were placed, I bought a detector to monitor formaldehyde levels and discovered that the levels were above the WHO recommendations. We continued to track levels and eventually towards mid-August they started decreasing. However, my daughter’s room was staying the same and we realized it was from her new furniture. We cleared out her new furniture and bought some used furniture and the levels in her dropped significantly.

   Five months after this all began, I continue to work on healing the damage that occurred from my body. While we ate fairly healthy before, we have drastically changed our diet. I mainly eat fruits and vegetables and a low-fat diet to eliminate foods that can worsen my symptoms. While I am teaching 4 [REDACTED] classes a week, there are days where I definitely need to modify more. I am not able to swim at this time as it is a lot of work on my body and I need to conserve my energy. I had to cut back a lot on my business during this time and am still limited on my ability to market and grow my business. Family activities are generally limited based on my energy. I’ve actually just hired a “mother’s helper” to come in the home a couple of times a week to relieve some of the burden from my husband who has had to pick up a lot more on the household duties.

   I am concerned that a product that is not allowed to be sold in 18 other states is allowed to be sold and used in Washington. I can’t help but ask how many others have gotten a chronic illness from Glitsa Swedish Finish and not even know it. Formaldehyde is known to cause health issues by the CDC, yet consumers are not required to be informed about this risks of this product. We were told it would be safe to move back into our home 3 days after the product was applied.

   Bought from

   Goss Flooring Purchased the item that was used in our home

   Where

   Redmond, Washington: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Age 6, Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   My Child

   As this report names them

   Brand Glitsa Swedish Finish (America Finish), made or sold by Rudd Company Inc

   Reports CPSC links to it

   20200608-D0E36-2147371831

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Injury, Seen by Medical Professional

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources