China has banned the sale of a range of harmful interior decorating materials from July 1 in order to help clean up the environment, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Monday.
A regulation issued by the State Administration of Quality Supervision and Quarantine (SAQSQ) last year stipulated that no enterprise would be allowed as of January 1 to produce decoration materials which contained harmful substances exceeding quality control standards, and the sale of such material would be totally banned six months later, said the paper.
These materials include products containing formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, benzene, toluene, dimethylbenzene and other toxic pollutants such as lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic.
Officials with the SAQSQ said that the regulation defined a package of environment-friendly standards and only those meeting the standards could be distributed on the market.
Complaints of pollution caused by interior decorations are on the increase. A quality survey of materials in more than 1,000 households in south China's Shenzhen city revealed that some 400 are now subject to decoration pollution of various kinds.
Considering the large stock of substandard building materials in many enterprises' warehouses, experts said that cleaning up the market would not be done overnight and consumers should still be on guard.
(eastday.com June 17, 2002)
