Kmart sold fingernail glue that burnt without safety warnings, watchdog says

The consumer watchdog has taken Kmart to court alleging the retailer sold millions of bottles of glue used for fake fingernails without adequately warning customers about burn risks.

Customers, including children, claimed they suffered third-degree burns and required hospitalisation and in some cases skin grafts to treat injuries caused by Kmart’s home brand OXX nail glue, according to Federal Court legal documents filed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Thursday.

In addition to burning skin, consumers complained the glue caused steaming, smoking, burning or melting when it came into contact with fabric. The ACCC is alleging Kmart breached consumer law in selling seven varieties of its OXX nail glue.

Even through it received more than 50 customer complaints between August 2017 and December 2024, Kmart continued selling the products without disclosing burn risk warnings, the ACCC said. It updated its packaging in December 2024, but continued selling pre-existing products without the warning until February 2025, court documents said.

“It’s a chemical reaction, in essence, where the glue comes into contact with fabric,” ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe told this masthead.

“Let’s say, for example, you were applying the product onto your hands, and you were wearing a pair of trousers. If the product dripped onto the trouser, that’s where the reaction would occur … if the fabric is on your skin, it burns, and in some instances, can stick.”

The product is still for sale on Kmart’s website. Kmart has been contacted for comment.

There was no information about the risk of burns on either the packaging or the bottle, despite containing instructions and other safety warnings about avoiding contact with skin and eyes; using the product with irritated or infected nails or skin; and when to seek medical advice if the glue came into contact with eyes or was swallowed, the ACCC alleged.

“Not all consumers can afford to go regularly to the nail salon to have these products applied professionally. However, we expect that consumers will be warned about material risks that they are engaging with, so they can make a choice at the time of purchase about whether or not they are comfortable to take on that risk,” said Lowe.

“That opportunity, we say, was not provided to consumers in this instance.”

Lowe said it was an “incredibly serious matter” that Kmart failed to warn customers of burn risks, despite receiving numerous reports of burn injuries.

“The intention is the warning is immediately visible to consumers as they’re scanning the range of products on shelves,” she said. “We expect all businesses, especially large businesses like Kmart, to have consumer safety front of mind, and withholding safety information can amount to false or misleading representations in breach of the Australian consumer law.”

The ACCC’s legal action also alleges additional breaches of consumer law related to Kmart selling button batteries in kids digital watches and GPS smart tags for tracking.

Button batteries are small flat discs that have a history of causing death and serious injury in children who unwittingly swallow them. They can burn through the oesophagus within hours of being ingested.

While products containing button batteries are legal to sell, there are strict information standards requiring labelling to warn parents of the potential danger.

The ACCC has alleged Kmart failed in its requirement to conduct safety feature testing for two models of Anko kids digital watches and seven models of analogue watches prior to selling them to customers.

It sold about 64,000 of the button battery-powered watches between June 2022 and November 2024.

“These watches contained button batteries, but Kmart did not test them prior to supply to show that young children could not open the battery compartments. This is despite many of the watches being specifically designed for children,” Lowe said.

The ACCC claims Kmart sold 800 Anko-branded GPS tracking tags that did not comply with safety standards because they carried some but not all warnings required by the law.

A Kmart spokeswoman said the company was “disappointed at [the ACCC’s] decision to take action on historical matters” given the retailer had cooperated with the watchdog’s investigation and had addressed the issues.

In relation to the fingernail glue products, the spokeswoman said:“We regret any injury associated with these products and apologise to anyone affected.”

“Kmart remains of the view the labelling and warnings were appropriate to prevent misuse. We take our reporting obligations seriously and submitted mandatory injury reports about these products to the ACCC,” the spokeswoman said.

Under consumer law, selling products without mandatory safety information carries a maximum penalty of $100 million for a company.

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