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A class action lawsuit is the latest stink to be raised against S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.'s Glade plug-in air fresheners, which have been the subject of numerous consumer complaints and a product recall earlier this year.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of an investigative report by a Seattle television station that blamed Glade Pluglns, which are inserted into electric outlets, for house fires in the Pacific Northwest.
The management at S.C. Johnson, the privately held Racine consumer products manufacturer, contends that the product smells like a rose in the firm's internal tests and in testing by independent organizations. The tests have failed to replicate the purported fires, and trace the cause to faulty wiring and electric outlets.
S.C. Johnson spokeswoman Cynthia Georgeson said no plugin air fresheners manufactured by the company have been positively determined to cause fires.
"No investigation we've ever conducted has ever found our product to be at fault," said Georgeson, who declined to comment specifically on the pending litigation.
The independent, nonprofit Underwriters Laboratories, Northbrook, Ill., began investigating Glade Pluglns in February, after the Seattle television report, and has been unable to duplicate the reported problems in a laboratory setting, said agency spokeswoman Sylvia Johnson. The product safety and certification agency also conducted an investigation of Glade Pluglns about 18 months ago following consumer complaints, she said.
"There weren't malfunctions of the product," Johnson said.
Problems were traced to faulty wiring, UL's Johnson said.
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