Weekly Quality Report丨The formaldehyde exceeds the standard and the smell of the new house is not enough for two years.

  Buying a new house and moving to a new house is a joyous event for any family to celebrate.

But Mr. Zhao from Shaanxi was distressed. Although the new house had been renovated, he did not dare to live in for a long time.

The house has just been renovated and the furniture is put into it. It must be ventilated first to disperse the smell, but it has been two years since this dispersal, and there is still a lot of peculiar smell in the furniture, which makes Mr. and Mrs. Zhao and his wife really hard to tell. The taste.

After two years, the smell is still too big to live

Mr. Zhao, a consumer in Hanzhong, Shaanxi:

This is my master bedroom, this is the big cabinet, and this door of mine has been a year and a half, and I dare not close it.

After closing it, the smell is really too big. I can only leave it open now, and it has been in this place for a year and a half, and it is still in this state.

  Mr. Zhao is a native of Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province. According to Mr. Zhao, two years ago, after getting a new house, he went to a whole house custom-made furniture store and customized a complete set of furniture.

Mr. Zhao's wife told reporters that the most important thing she emphasized to the sales staff was that the materials should be environmentally friendly.

  However, when Mr. Zhao's customized furniture began to be installed, an accident happened.

Mr. Zhao, a consumer in Hanzhong, Shaanxi:

After it was opened, I think there was some smell.

But I was thinking that the new furniture will smell somewhat anyway, so this is also a very normal phenomenon. I think it will be fine to deodorize and open it in the later stage.

So I didn't think so much.

  After the new furniture was installed, Mr. Zhao was not eager to move in, but placed green plants in the new house, and kept the windows open for ventilation, hoping to remove the odor in the room before using it.

In the meantime, Mr. Zhao even hired a professional formaldehyde removal company to clean up the indoor furniture.

However, what Mr. Zhao didn't expect was that despite all the methods he could use, he could still smell the peculiar smell from the furniture every time he visited the house.

Test result: excessive formaldehyde!

  The peculiar smell is always inexhaustible, so Mr. Zhao began to wonder if there is a problem with the material of this set of custom-made furniture for the whole house, especially whether the formaldehyde content exceeds the standard.

In order to find out the source of the peculiar smell in the home, Mr. Zhao decided to ask a third-party testing agency to monitor the formaldehyde content in the indoor air of the children's room, which he is most concerned about.

  The testing agency performed comparative monitoring on the children's room: the first time all the furniture was moved out of the room, and samples were taken when they were vacant; the other time, samples were taken when all the furniture was kept.

  The monitoring results showed that in Mr. Zhao’s children’s room, when there is no furniture in the room, the air formaldehyde content is 0.11㎎/m3; but

when there is furniture, the formaldehyde content is 0.24㎎/m3, which is more than twice that of when the room is empty

.

Formaldehyde

is a colorless irritating gas. In the list of carcinogens published by the World Health Organization, formaldehyde is listed as a carcinogen.

Long-term exposure of the human body to formaldehyde may cause chronic respiratory diseases, damage the liver, nervous system, and immune system, and cause cancer in severe cases.

  Although Mr. Zhao has moved into his new home, the excessive formaldehyde in the room is always like an invisible shadow, bothering him all the time.

There are clear requirements for non-individual mandatory standards for formaldehyde exceeding the standard

  During the further investigation, the reporter found that the problem of excessive formaldehyde in furniture encountered by ordinary consumers was also found in the national supervision and random inspection.

  For example, in the national selection of wooden furniture in 2019, 4 batches of samples were unqualified for formaldehyde emission items, accounting for 23.5% of all 17 batches of unqualified samples.

The State Administration for Market Regulation recently announced the 2020 national supervision and spot check on the quality of wooden furniture products, and there was also a batch of formaldehyde emissions exceeding the standard.

  In the testing agency that has undertaken the national extraction of wooden furniture for many years, the inspectors told the reporter that although formaldehyde is a well-known carcinogen, it

exists in most wooden furniture, especially wood-based panels or wood-based furniture

.

Liang Xianyuan, Senior Engineer, National Furniture Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center (Guangdong):

Most wood furniture in our lives releases formaldehyde, which is mainly derived from wood-based panels and adhesives. At present, most wood-based panels are produced in the production process. Formaldehyde is an adhesive, so it will continuously release formaldehyde during actual use, causing indoor air pollution.

  In fact, the national compulsory standard "Interior Decoration Materials-Limits of Hazardous Substances in Wooden Furniture" specifically

sets

requirements for the amount of formaldehyde released: it

stipulates that the

amount of formaldehyde emitted in

wooden furniture products cannot exceed 1.5 mg per liter

.

This item is the most important test item in wooden furniture products, and it is also the item most concerned by consumers.

  Nevertheless, in the national draw for wooden furniture, the measured amount of formaldehyde emission of this square is as high as 3.9 milligrams per liter, which is 2.6 times the national standard limit and was judged as a substandard product.

Liang Xianyuan, senior engineer of the National Furniture Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center (Guangdong):

The main reason for the excessive formaldehyde in furniture is that the manufacturing enterprises use wood-based panels or adhesives with high formaldehyde content.

Another reason is that in order to save costs, manufacturers did not paint wood-based panels, which resulted in an increase in formaldehyde emissions from wood-based panels.

The quality of formaldehyde exceeding the standard man-made board is the key

  The emergence of wood-based panel products could have improved our comprehensive utilization of wood resources, and the price was relatively affordable, and wood-based panels were not wrong.

The problem is precisely that, as the inspectors said just now, formaldehyde exists in most wood-based panels or wood furniture combined with wood-based panels, and the problems in wood-based panels have always been prominent.

  Almost all sources of formaldehyde in wood furniture, especially panel furniture, come from wood-based panels.

The so-called man-made board is an artificial board made of wood and its scraps, after a certain process, and then added with chemical adhesives, mainly plywood, fiberboard and particle board.

It has the characteristics of high output, low cost, large format and easy processing. Therefore, furniture products made of wood-based panels are

relatively inexpensive and more attractive to consumers

.

This also directly promotes the rapid development of the wood-based panel industry.

  According to data released by the China Forest Products Industry Association, my country's current annual output of wood-based panels is close to 300 million cubic meters, ranking first in the world.

Although my country's wood-based panel industry has gone through decades of development, the problems in the products have been prominent.

Wen Fuquan, deputy director of the Furniture and Building Materials Office of the National Furniture Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center (Guangdong):

Most wood-based panels use urea-formaldehyde resin adhesives, which determines that our wood-based panels will inevitably contain formaldehyde and artificial Board products or wooden furniture made of wood-based panels will continuously release formaldehyde.

  During the investigation, an industry insider engaged in wood-based panel production told reporters that the urea-formaldehyde resin adhesive is chemically synthesized with urea and formaldehyde, commonly known as urea-formaldehyde glue, which inevitably contains free aldehyde.

The production cost of urea-formaldehyde glue with different free aldehyde content is 10%~20%.

Reflected in wood-based panels, taking plywood as an example, qualified products cost about 2,300 yuan per cubic meter, while products with free aldehyde exceeding the standard cost only about 2,000 yuan per cubic meter.

The price difference of 300 yuan is undoubtedly a huge advantage in the increasingly saturated wood-based panel market.

Therefore, in order to improve product competitiveness, some companies often ignore quality and use substandard adhesives to reduce prices and meet the needs of some furniture manufacturers.

The non-interfacing surface of wood-based panels should be edge-sealed or painted

  During the further investigation, the reporter learned that it is precisely because most wood-based panels inevitably contain free aldehydes, in order to limit the rapid volatilization of this harmful substance from the furniture and cause pollution to the indoor environment, the national standards for wood furniture products Require specific regulations.

The so-called woodworking requirements mainly emphasize that the non-interfacing surface of wood-based panel components should be edge-sealed or painted.

Hu Jie, Senior Engineer, National Furniture Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center (Guangdong):

Let’s take a look at this sample, the side panel of the drawer, and the bottom panel of the drawer.

  However, during the investigation, the reporter noticed that in some of the samples inspected this time, although there were no problems with the carpentry processing on the surface

, no edge banding or finishing was done in some hidden places

.

Hu Jie, a senior engineer from the National Furniture Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center (Guangdong):

The side and bottom plates of this drawer have not been edge-sealed. This sample does not meet the standard requirements.

Let's take a look at the last one. These places have been edge-sealed, but in some hidden places, its bottom plate has not been painted, which does not meet the standard requirements.

  Inspectors introduced that in order to reduce costs, manufacturers cut corners and cut corners. The unsealing of the edge banding and the unpainting of the finishing treatment are the main reasons for the unqualified carpentry requirements. The reason why the national standard requires this item is from In terms of performance, it can effectively prevent the furniture from absorbing moisture and deforming and shorten the service life.

More importantly, this requirement can also

delay the release of formaldehyde per unit time of wood furniture, thereby effectively protecting the health of consumers

.

Increase supervision and implementation responsibilities

Improve the product quality and safety of wooden furniture

  This time, five batches of sample woodworking requirements were unqualified.

Professionals told reporters that my country's wood furniture production enterprises are mainly concentrated in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Sichuan and other places, with an annual output value of more than 700 billion yuan.

The huge scale of the industry and widespread use by consumers also makes the regulatory authorities pay particular attention to wooden furniture products.

  According to the statistics of the national supervision and random inspection of wooden furniture in recent years, it has been found that since 2010, a total of 10 national inspections of wooden furniture have been carried out. Among the 4,956 batches of products inspected, the number of unqualified samples was 715, and the average unqualified found The rate was 14.4%.

  In further investigations, it was found that

excessive formaldehyde emissions were an important factor in lowering the pass rate of national supervision and spot checks on the quality of wooden furniture products over the years.

  In the past 10 national extractions of wooden furniture, formaldehyde emissions, an indicator of consumer health, were listed as a single test item.

Among them,

only formaldehyde emission projects accounted for less than 10% of unqualified batches in 2020. For the remaining 9 national extractions, formaldehyde emission projects accounted for more than 10% of unqualified batches

, the highest in 2016, with 120 batches Among the unqualified samples, 61 batches of formaldehyde emission items were unqualified, accounting for as high as 50.8%.

Among the 715 batches of unqualified samples in these 10 national samplings, 292 batches of unqualified samples for formaldehyde emission items accounted for 40.8% of the total number of unqualified samples.

  Professionals believe that although the annual output value of China's wooden furniture exceeds 700 billion yuan, the

scale of production enterprises is still dominated by small, medium and micro enterprises

. This is also an important reason for the difficulty in improving the overall quality of China's wooden furniture products and the high rate of unqualified detection in previous random inspections. one.

Yao Chenlan, deputy director of the National Furniture Quality Supervision and Inspection Center:

We have found that some companies subjectively want to improve the quality of this product, but they are (objectively) limited by factors such as his production equipment, personnel capabilities, and quality management systems. It is difficult to guarantee the quality level and quality stability of other products.

  The small scale of enterprises and the inability of hardware facilities, especially the facilities for monitoring the quality of raw materials, have made it difficult for some enterprises to guarantee product quality from the source.

With the in-depth investigation, the reporter also discovered that many companies ignore quality in order to make greater profits, and even produce products that fail to meet national standards.

Miao Yuchen, director of the random inspection department of the Quality Supervision Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation:

Most of the raw materials of enterprises rely on outsourcing. If the quality of raw materials is not strictly controlled, it is easy to cause the final furniture product quality to be substandard.

For example, the use of wood-based panels with high formaldehyde content may cause excessive formaldehyde in furniture products, and the use of paint that does not meet the requirements will cause the physical and chemical properties of the furniture paint film to be unqualified.

  In response to the high level of formaldehyde found in the national supervision and random inspection of the quality of wooden furniture products, the State Administration of Market Supervision stated that in the next step, it will increase the supervision of the quality of wooden furniture products and guide enterprises to implement the main responsibility for quality and safety to improve wooden furniture. The level of product quality and safety.

  (CCTV reporter Wang Jun, Yan Hong, Li Zhigui)