Bookworms slowly poisoned by their home library in eastern China
Voracious readers developed symptoms of formaldehyde poisoning last year – and tests showed it was coming from their tens of thousands of books
A couple in eastern China whose apartment was packed with tens of thousands of books discovered that their home library was slowly poisoning them, according to a television news report.
The couple and their child, who live in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, developed symptoms of formaldehyde poisoning at the end of last year, Jiangsu Television reports.
The adults suffered from constant coughing, while their child had rhinitis. They spent about 8,000 yuan (HK$9,185) on medical treatment but nothing worked – and doctors weren’t sure what was causing their illness, the report said.
But after doing some research, the woman realised that the air in their home could be to blame. At her request, the municipal authorities tested the air quality in their apartment and found excessive levels of formaldehyde in every room. In some places, the concentration of formaldehyde was dangerously high.