Lever rejects Persil Power pack flashes

Lever Brothers has rejected Consumers’ Association demands that it attach extra safety warnings to packets of Persil Power.

The demand for added warnings comes after a six-month CA investigation into allegations that even the reformulated powder, with reduced manganese, damages clothes. The association’s magazine Which? demands that Lever should print an explicit warning not to use the powder on colours, calls on the manufacturer to publicise its compensation scheme and offer to exchange packs for the new product New Generation Persil.

“There can be no argument now that Persil Power – in both formulas – is anything but the wonder soap it was claimed to be,” says Which? acting editor Helen Parker. “Consumers will want to know how Lever Brothers could have made such a mistake and will want to be reassured that it will not happen again. The company has still not provided a satisfactory explanation of how it happened.”

But Lever Brothers claims that it already satisfies the CA criteria and has condemned the CA research. “We cannot accept that the testing carried out by the CA is representative,” says Lever Brothers managing director Andrew Seth. “Based on all the evidence gathered, we remain confident that when using Power according to the instructions, consumers will have no cause for complaint.”