1.7 million air conditioners recalled over reports of mold growth
(NewsNation) — About 1.7 million window air conditioning units have been recalled in the U.S. after 17 customers reported getting sick from fungal growth in the appliance.
The Midea U and U+ window air conditioners may fail to drain quickly, causing mold growth that 'poses risks of respiratory issues or other infections to some consumers,' according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Nearly 46,000 units were also sold in Canada.
There have been 152 reports of mold in the white AC units, including 17 reports of people saying exposure to the fungi made them cough, sneeze or have other allergic reactions.
Units were sold under the brand names:
The Midea air conditioners fit in windows and resonated with consumers because of their unique design, which allows consumers to close their windows 'through' the unit.
The units were sold from March 2020 through May 2025 for $280 to $500 in-store and online at Costco, Menards, Best Buy, Home Depot and more.
Customers who purchased the units can get a free repair or potentially a prorated refund by contacting Midea.
Consumers who choose to use their air conditioners while awaiting a repair can go to www.MideaUrecall.expertinquiry.com to find out how to inspect their unit before continuing to use it.
For more information, consumers can visit www.midea.com/us and click on 'Recall Information' or call (888) 345-0256 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Mondays-Fridays.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
8 hours ago
- The Hill
Dr. Oz welcomes move by states to reduce migrant health coverage
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor who oversees Medicaid and Medicare for the Trump administration, welcomes the move by a trio of blue states — California, Illinois and Minnesota — to freeze or reduce health care benefits for undocumented migrants. He told NewsNation's 'CUOMO' on Friday that some states broadened their public medical programs to include migrants because they could leverage federal dollars to pay for it, but Medicaid is supposed to be reserved for the most vulnerable Americans. 'If we extend it to illegal immigrants without keeping tabs of what those costs are — and especially if we have a system that encourages states to do legalized money laundering, to push more money towards able-bodied individuals — the dollar doesn't stretch that far. You end up bankrupting the whole system,' the former TV host said Friday. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) proposes suspending new health care enrollment for undocumented adults, although existing patients would continue to receive some coverage. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) would go further, ending his state's immigrant adult health program, which covers more than 30,000 people, on July 1. Minnesota is making undocumented adults ineligible for health care assistance by the end of the year. 'Taking care of a large population of undocumented folks has become a problem, and states have to manage that,' Oz said. The top health official's comments come after the administration moved to end Obamacare's coverage of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally as children, according to a final rule announced Friday. The provision will undo a Biden-era rule that was estimated to allow 147,000 immigrants to enroll in coverage. A federal judge blocked the rule from being enforced in 19 states, and it is still being litigated in court.
The Hill
a day ago
- The Hill
Teens with ‘addictive' phone use more likely to be suicidal: Study
(NewsNation) — A new study has found that addiction to social media, video games and mobile devices is linked to a higher risk of suicidal behaviors and thoughts. JAMA Network published the study Wednesday, which looked at data from over 4,000 children starting at 9 or 10 years old. The study followed these children for years and found that, by the age of 14: The study author, Yunyu Xiao, said, 'And these youth are significantly more likely to report suicidal behaviors and thoughts.' According to NPR, Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician at the University of California, San Francisco, said, 'It's an important study and raising awareness about screen addiction. … It shows that elements of addiction related to screen use are more strongly predictive of poorer mental health and even suicide risk compared to just screen time. So, I think that it provides more nuance.' Data was used from an ongoing longitudinal study called the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which has been following these children for years. During that time, these children were questioned about their average daily screen time, among other things, with a standardized questionnaire. Xiao said that some of the statements in the questionnaire would include, ''I spend a lot of time thinking about social media apps or planning to use social media apps'' and ''I try to use the social media app less, but I can't.'' Then, each child's response would be monitored over the years to see how it changed. Nearly 60% of the participants had low levels of social media addiction, and they stayed stable over the years. However, around a tenth of the children had an increasing social media addiction that peaked around the third and fourth year of the study. When it came to cell phone use, around half showed a high addiction, and a quarter had an increasing addiction. Then, with video games, there were two groups: Around 60% showed low addiction that was stable, and 41% were highly addicted throughout a certain period of time. The study found that those who had high and increasing addiction to mobile phones and social media platforms were at a higher risk of suicidal behaviors and thoughts. At year four, almost 18% of kids reported having suicidal thoughts, and 5% said they had suicidal behaviors. This correlation was also observed in individuals who were highly addicted to video games. However, total screen time had no effect on a lower or higher suicide risk. Nagata said, 'We all get reports from our phones about our weekly screen time. Screen time is an easily understandable metric because it's minutes or hours a day that we're spending on screens.' Psychologist Mitch Prinstein, a professor at the University of North Carolina, also said, 'Some kids might spend their time on screen reading the news, and some might be trolling some pretty dangerous sites. So it's really hard to know what to make of screen time as a risk factor.' Nagata is also someone who has used data from the ABCD study to understand how teenagers are using these social media platforms over time and how that's affecting their risk of mental health symptoms. 'One thing that was really striking to me is that, unfortunately, these symptoms of screen addictions are actually pretty common,' Nagata said.
The Hill
4 days ago
- The Hill
Walking more may prevent cause of lower back pain: Study
(NewsNation) — A person getting in more steps may help prevent them from having chronic back pain, according to a new study. The JAMA Network Open study found that walking 100 minutes a day was associated with a 23 percent reduced risk of chronic low back pain (LBP). Nearly 12,000 participants aged 20 years or older were included in the analysis. 'Our findings suggest that daily walking volume is more important than mean walking intensity in reducing the risk of chronic LBP,' the study said. 'A similar observation was made in a recent meta-analysis examining the association of total step volume and step intensity (ie, stepping rate) with mortality, which found inconsistent evidence that step intensity is associated with mortality beyond the total step volume,' researchers added. Participants walking 101 to 124 minutes per day had a risk ratio of 0.77 for chronic back pain, while those walking 125 minutes or more per day had a 0.76 risk ratio. Also, participants with walking intensity of 3.00 to 3.11 MET per minute had a risk ratio for chronic LBP of 0.85. Low back pain affects people of all ages and is the leading cause of functional health loss, which accounts for 7.7 percent of all years lived with disability.
