Formaldehyde in Mattresses from China?

Mattress makers get wake-up call Updated: 2013-04-15 07:17By Chen Xin (China Daily) Print Mail Large Medium Small 0 Half of the mattresses sold in Beijing are substandard, the city's consumer watchdog said on Sunday. Of the 50 products tested at the National Center for Quality Supervision and Inspection of Furniture and Indoor Environment, 25 failed for such things as color fading, fabric use, toxic substances and durability. Samples were taken from 50 manufacturers in Beijing and Tianjin, as well as Hebei, Shandong, Guangdong, Guizhou and Zhejiang provinces. Thirteen were palm fiber mattresses and the others were spring mattresses. Seven products faded too easily, three used thin fabric, eight had excessive formaldehyde content and 17 were beneath national durability standards of durability, according to the Beijing Consumer Association, which organized the study. Straw was also used in some products instead of palm fiber. The color of the exterior fabric will run onto sheets or clothes if the mattress's fading resistance does not meet national standards and the fabric will easily fray if it's durability is substandard, Sun Shudong, a division chief overseeing furniture inspection at the National Center for Quality Supervision and Inspection of Furniture and Indoor Environment, was quoted as saying by China Central Television. The formaldehyde content in some products was 30 times acceptable levels, according to Liu Hailing, a division chief overseeing indoor environmental inspection at the center. Under the national standard, formaldehyde emissions from a mattress may not exceed 0.05 milligrams per square meter per hour. "Inhaling formaldehyde could cause constriction in the chest and coughing, and other respiratory diseases. It could also lead to cancers and leukemia in children if the exposure to the formaldehyde is lengthy," said Zhao Ping, vice-president of the Cancer Foundation of China. The consumer association said it informed the manufacturers of the substandard mattresses and commerce authorities are investigating. Qu Shengping, general manager of Beijing Hongdameidi, whose products showed excessive formaldehyde and weak durability in testing, admitted they used cheap glue and fabric to produce mattresses. Qu said the sample the Beijing Consumer Association tested was from the inventory. "We received the test results from the association in February, and, actually, we did not put that batch of products on the market," he said. The test results showed that a product of Beijing Yasili, another furniture producer, was substandard in color fading resistance, fabric used, formaldehyde content and durability. Chen, general manager of Yasili, said the association had the product tested early this year but it took the sample from the company in June last year. "In fact, some customers had called us and complained that the mattresses gave off bad odors and we refunded their purchases," he said. Chen said they recalled those mattresses from dealers at the end of November. "The mattress makers involved should compensate customers, and commerce authorities should fine them," said Ge Youshan, a lawyer who specializes in consumer rights. "More serious penalties, such as suspending or revoking their business licenses, could be used if producers continue to make substandard goods." Related readings:

Car Hazardous Pollutants

If you’re like most people, your car is more than just a means of transportation — much, much more. It represents freedom. Your independence to go places, choose your own path and for the adventurous types, discovering the previously unexplored. For nearly a century the hyper-mobile society we live in has meant we have developed a deep love affair with our automobiles. The social interdependence between human and machine is undeniable, but it goes farther than that. There’s a psychological dependence too. Modern humans have developed a nearly innate ability to see our vehicles as an extension of ourselves. Given the sanctity of that relationship, what I’m about to tell you won’t come easy, but you need to know. Our cars are making us — and perhaps worse, our children — sick. That’s right. Scientific experts have reams of data to show that the nation faces an epidemic of illnesses that are exacerbated by vehicle exhaust. These illnesses include cardiovascular disease, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer and diabetes. The latest study, presented on April 8, 2013 at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2013 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., showed a possible link between exposure to traffic-related air pollution and several childhood cancers. Julia Heck, an epidemiologist at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health and member of Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center found that increased exposure to traffic-related air pollution during pregnancy was associated with a higher incidence of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (a white blood cell cancer) and two other rare childhood cancers. Specifically, Heck found a link to germ cell tumors — cancers of the testicles, ovaries, and other organs — and eye cancer, called retinoblastoma, particularly the type that affects both eyes. Previous international studies have linked childhood leukemia, lymphomas and brain tumors to vehicle exhaust. The UCLA study is the first to look at vehicle air pollution and rare childhood cancers. The highest increases were found for retinoblastoma and germ cell tumors. Motor vehicles emit millions of pounds of hazardous pollutants into the air each year in the United States that include compounds such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates (fine dust and soot), and toxic air pollutants such as benzene. These chemical particulates have been linked to lung cancer and breast cancer in adults as well as a host of other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. This was reported in a 65-page policy study by the Connecticut nonprofit, Environment and Human Health, Inc. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that vehicle emissions account for as many as half of all cancers attributed to outdoor air pollution, and account for 1.3 million deaths worldwide each year. “The main reason for undertaking this study was that we know much more about the causes of adult cancers than we do of the causes of childhood cancers,” said Heck. “We studied pregnancy exposures because the fetus is likely to be more vulnerable to environmental factors during that time, and we also know that certain childhood cancers originate in utero.” For the study, Heck and her colleagues identified 3,590 children from the California Cancer Registry born between 1998 and 2007 who could be linked to a California birth certificate and who were five years of age or younger at the time of diagnosis. Those kids were then compared to 80,224 randomly selected California children in the control group. UCLA researchers used sophisticated modeling to estimate each child’s exposure to gas and diesel vehicle pollution at home, during each trimester of their mother’s pregnancy with the child and their first year of life. Cancer risk was estimated using a statistical analysis called unconditional logistic regression. Increases in exposure to traffic-related air pollution positively correlated with increases in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, germ cell tumors and retinoblastoma, according to the study results. The pollution exposure estimates were highly correlated across pregnancy trimesters and the first year of life, meaning that no particular period stood out as a higher exposure time. This made it difficult for the scientists to determine if one period of exposure was more dangerous than any other, the UCLA study points out. Because this is the first study of this type, and these are rare diseases, Heck cautioned that the findings still need to be replicated in further studies. Nevertheless, the results provide new leads to potential causes of serious childhood cancers. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/04/10/car-exhaust-linked-to-childhood-cancers-study-finds/#ixzz2Q4VqbYpT