Home sick home: Formaldehyde danger pushes furniture industry to clean up act

WHEN Cherie Tan’s pet dog was diagnosed with cancer just a few months after she had moved into a new apartment, she did not suspect that the furniture could be the cause.

The marketing director and her husband also experienced frequent bouts of less severe illnesses, but brushed them off as the result of exhaustion.

After news broke in July about the danger of the volatile organic compound formaldehyde in homes, however, she began to suspect that her home might have caused some of these issues. In her research, she discovered that the compound can lead to both minor illnesses and severe diseases such as cancer.