Popular Chinese handheld devices to measure formaldehyde fail tests
- None of the 41 meters checked by Shanghai authorities provided reliable readings on indoor pollution
- All of the products are sold online and their manufacturers are ‘suspected of exaggeration and false advertising’
Government checks in Shanghai have exposed many popular Chinese handheld devices used to measure indoor pollution as duds.
Authorities in the city assessed 41 formaldehyde meters sold on two big online shopping platforms and found none of them provided reliable readings, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.
Indoor formaldehyde pollution is typically associated with paint jobs and new furniture.
When tested in a laboratory, the devices – which claim to measure the density of organic pollutants in a room – provided highly erroneous readings, the Shanghai Institute of Measurement and Testing Technology found.
Products tested were from nearly 20 brands made by firms based in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, the report said. All of them are bestselling models priced below 1,000 yuan (US$150) on the JD and Tmall websites, the report said.
Formaldehyde meters are often the size of a smartphone and can be bought for as little as 50 yuan online. Some of them also claim to be able to read PM2.5 and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) levels, two major indicators of air quality.