Mr. Liu, a post-80s Beipiao (person migrating from other places to work and live in Beijing), has had mixed feelings recently: on the bright side, he finally settled down in Beijing after years of hard work; on the dark side, the new house newly furnished still has some pungent odor even after two months of ventilation, and he worries if this will affect his pregnant wife?
With this doubt, Mr. Liu hired an indoor pollution control institution for testing. After comparing air indicators in environments with and without furniture, testers confirmed that the pungent odor is released from the furniture Mr. Liu purchased. Nowadays, similar incidents are not uncommon in home renovation. Furniture and building materials have become one of the major concerns in home decoration because of "excessive formaldehyde content".
The problem of excessive formaldehyde in furniture is serious
A spot check result of furniture products released by Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision in November last year shows that among 156 batches of sampled products, 51 batches are unqualified, and the unqualified reason for many furniture products is related to "formaldehyde emission not meeting standards". Shortly before that, Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision announced the results of the second quarter of this year's supervision and spot check on furniture product quality. Among 95 batches of products sampled from 95 manufacturers and distributors, 19 batches of samples are unqualified after testing. Apart from non-compliance of metal material requirements and drawer slide strength with standards, all other existing problems are related to excessive formaldehyde.
According to China's testing standard for formaldehyde content in furniture, the formaldehyde emission shall not exceed 1.5mg/L. However, a quick comparison of these unqualified sampled products shows that the formaldehyde emission of some products is 2 times the limit at the minimum, and even more than 5 times at the maximum.
Analysts say the main reason for the increasingly serious problem of excessive formaldehyde in furniture is: most panel furniture in China uses bonded fiberboard or particleboard. In the production and assembly process of using these materials as furniture raw materials, aldehyde adhesives are required for bonding. For example, many panel furniture use an adhesive called "urea-formaldehyde resin" in the production process. From a chemical perspective, urea-formaldehyde resin is a direct compound of formaldehyde and urea. This product will undergo organic "decomposition reaction" under natural conditions and release formaldehyde. When exposed to a humid and hot environment, it is just like adding a "catalyst" — the decomposition speed will double, and the formaldehyde odor people smell will naturally be stronger.
There are a large number of small enterprises in the home furnishing industry. Apart from having weak control over raw materials and other product standards and wantonly using unqualified artificial boards and inferior adhesives, insiders generally believe that another main reason for the repeated occurrence of excessive formaldehyde in the industry is that China's existing testing method is highly "destructive", which makes the testing operation for finished furniture somewhat difficult.
Current testing method is highly "destructive"
Mr. Liu mentioned above told this author that after finding out the problem with the furniture, he asked the merchant for a return. Unexpectedly, the merchant refused, and instead claimed that a certain amount of formaldehyde can play a preservative role for furniture. As for whether the formaldehyde exceeds the standard, the merchant hopes that Mr. Liu can send the furniture to a professional testing institution designated by the state for inspection. If the formaldehyde does exceed the standard, replacement is available.
"It's no problem to pay the testing fee, but it's really not worthwhile to cut this set of furniture that cost tens of thousands of yuan into pieces for testing. If the rights protection fails anyway, the cost will be too high." With no other option, Mr. Liu had to give up sending it for testing.
A survey shows that at present, among complaints about home furnishing products, the number of complaints about panel furniture has ranked among the top for consecutive years. In particular, "excessive formaldehyde" is an unspeakable pain for consumers and has become a stubborn headache for the furniture industry. But for a long time, due to the difficult operation of China's current furniture testing method, the success rate of consumers' rights protection is not high. In many cases, consumers can only protect their rights by begging merchants for accommodation!
China's current testing method for furniture is the "desiccator method". The general process is as follows: first, plate samples are extracted from the furniture product, then sent to laboratories at or above the provincial level for chemical testing. It is worth noting that extracting plate samples will inevitably damage the integrity of the furniture. This method of cutting the furniture into small pieces for testing not only generates certain costs, but also makes it difficult to get a smooth replacement or refund even if the test result shows excessive formaldehyde, because many merchants will refuse to compensate consumers on the grounds that "the furniture product has been damaged".
"Environmental test chamber method" is worthy of reference
Compared with the domestic "plate sampling testing method" that costs the integrity of furniture, some European and American countries have already implemented the "environmental test chamber method". The specific operation of this testing method is: place a single piece of furniture in a "closed air chamber", and after a certain period of time, extract "air samples" from the chamber for testing.
The main differences between this testing method and the method currently used in China are as follows: First, it does not damage the structural integrity of the furniture product, which is conducive to subsequent rights protection; Second, placing the furniture in a "closed air chamber" for testing is equivalent to simulating the actual use environment of the furniture, so the test result is more convincing. Third, on the premise of not damaging the tested product, the cost of the "environmental test chamber method" is lower than that of the "plate sampling testing method".
In addition to the big difference in testing methods compared with the United States, China's regulatory standards for formaldehyde emission from furniture also need to be standardized and improved. It is understood that in today's world, the United States exercises the strictest control over "formaldehyde emission testing of furniture". In 2009, the United States issued the CARB Regulation, which has made detailed specifications for all links of furniture production, and even penetrated formaldehyde testing into every link of the circulation of furniture products, instead of being limited to spot checking only "finished furniture products".
In contrast, looking at China's existing normative standards for "formaldehyde content": the limit of formaldehyde content in the Indoor Air Quality Standard is ≤ 0.10mg per cubic meter, while the qualified standard for formaldehyde content in the Limit of Harmful Substances in Wooden Furniture for Interior Decoration Materials is ≤ 1.5mg per liter. Relevant experts say that the inconsistency of the two standards leads to the inconsistency between the qualified formaldehyde content of furniture and the formaldehyde content in the air. As a result, sometimes the test result violates one standard but meets the other, and merchants will use this as a reason to refuse return and replacement.
Consumers need to master some basic common sense when buying furniture
The new standard will be introduced soon, which is undoubtedly an exciting good news for consumers. But it is still very necessary for consumers to master some basic common sense when buying furniture.
There is a saying in the industry that consumers should think twice before purchasing furniture in the following situations: 1. The furniture has a strong pungent odor; 2. It is sold in an irregular store without a quality inspection certificate; 3. The manufacturer's furniture products have been listed on the blacklist of national and local quality inspection departments for multiple times; 4. The panel furniture has no edge sealing treatment; 5. The seller cannot provide a formaldehyde content description; 6. It is OEM production and the price is unreasonably low; 7. The after-sales warranty document is incomplete.
Professionals believe that the quality of indoor air quality is closely related to the physical health of family members. In addition to common methods such as activated carbon adsorption, opening doors and windows for natural air circulation, placing green plants indoors, and purchasing air purifiers, it is better to invite a professional testing institution to conduct "indoor air quality testing" before moving in, and it is advisable to move in only after the air quality meets the standard.