Progress on Indoor Formaldehyde Exposure and Health Effects in China

As an important chemical substance, formaldehyde is classified as a human carcinogen that causes nasopharyngeal cancer and probably leukemia by International Agency for Research on Cancer(IARC). Since 2004, China has been the largest producer and consumer of formaldehyde in the world. Human exposure to formaldehyde in homes, office buildings and public places was one of the important reasons to harm human health. Formaldehyde can cause numerous health effects on the population. Through databases, such as CNKI, WANGFANG, CQVIP, PubMed, Web of Science and Science Direct, 126 articles on indoor formaldehyde exposure and health effects in China published in 1996-2016 were retrieved and collected. A brief description on the production and consumption of formaldehyde was made in the paper. The formaldehyde exposure levels in homes, office buildings and public places, and research progress on formaldehyde-induced health effects were reviewed and emphatically illuminated. Furthermore, the future development direction was also prospected.