[SustainableTompkins] formaldehyde in imported plywood

[Michael Dineen]

Here's a link to a story in the LA Times about how other countries are 
taking advantage of the US's weak consumer protection and product labeling 
laws to dump materials that would be classified as too toxic in other 
countries.

Some highlights:
*  "One birch plank from China, bought at a Home Depot store in Portland, 
gave off 100 times more formaldehyde than legal in Japan and 30 times more 
than allowed in Europe and China"
*  "With no government standards, monitoring or labeling, U.S. consumers 
cannot easily identify chemical-free products. "

One lesson:  get your plywood from a green distributor.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping8oct08,1,5900615.story


Michael Dineen