Poisonous fumes from building and decorating materials can cause leukaemia and other illnesses, statistics from a Beijing hospital suggest.

Beijing Children's Hospital has said that 'most' children treated for leukaemia over the past six months have been living in houses which had recently been redecorated.

Some materials, particularly paint, have been found to have a high content of poisonous chemicals which evaporate and stay in the air, said Yang Shukun, secretary-general of the China Consumers' Association.

In August 1998, Beijing resident Chen Yi hired Tiancheng, an interior design company, to decorate his house.

Two months later, when Chen opened the door to his "brand new" home, he found the room smelt terrible.

The company said it was common for newly decorated houses to smell and that it would be gone in a couple of months.

More than two years later, the irritating smell still lingers, and Chen's health has suffered. He kept coughing and came down with pharyngolaryngitis - an irritation of the cavity between the mouth and the nose.

Between April and November last year, Chen invited several authoritative organizations to carry out a thorough examination of his rooms.

They found the concentration of formaldehyde - a toxic disinfectant and preservative used in making resins - of the air indoors was 32 times higher than the national safety standard.

The formaldehyde is believed to have evaporated from materials used in the decorating which were not up to quality standards.

Chen is in the process of taking Tiancheng to court.

As Chinese people's living conditions improve, there has been a dramatic growth in demand in the building and decorating market.

In the chase for higher profits, some factories are turning out products that fail to meet quality and environmental standards, containing instead high levels of poisonous chemical materials such as benzene, a carcinogenic liquid found in coal tar and some plastics, and formaldehyde.

Some irresponsible decorating companies use poisonous products despite being banned by the State, because they are cheap.

Fortunately, the concept of environmental protection has become increasingly popular among the Chinese and more and more are beginning to pay attention to the quality of their lives.

Poisonous decorating materials are now attracting increasing attention.

According to Yang Shukun, the supervision of the production of building and decorating materials, with food and cosmetics, tops this year's agenda of the China Consumers' Association.

Yang said his association would call for the establishment of new quality standards which would take environmental protection into account.

Yang also suggested imposing heavy taxes on companies whose manufacturing activities caused pollution and threaten human health.

From China Daily