Sealy Korea, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of U.S. Tempur Sealy International, has issued a recall of around 500 mattresses found to have contained radioactive material, the company announced Thursday.

The decision came after the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) ordered the company to recall 357 mattresses of six types contaminated with radioactive material called radon, a carcinogen. The company added 140 products that barely met the tolerance standard to the recall list for safety reason, thus the total number of products subject to recall increased to 497.

As the radon-contaminated mattresses were only found in Korea and no similar problems have been reported in other countries, critics argue that the Korean manufacturers might have not applied the same safety rules of the U.S. headquarters while manufacturing the products in Korea. Sealy Korea said that it stopped original equipment manufacturing and has been producing mattresses on its own since it set up its own factory in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, in November 2016.

Last May, the nuclear commission found the radioactive material in products made by Korean bedding company Daijin Bed. The radon levels were up to 9.3 times above the tolerance standard. Exposure to radon is known to be the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking.

By Yang Yeon-ho and Choi Mira

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