Newly-decorated houses are often unsuitable to be lived
immediately following decoration, since virulent gases can exceed
safe parameters. However, polluted air within cars may be just as
dangerous. For the first time, a safety standard monitoring the air
quality within road vehicles will be set up.
On August 21, the State Environmental Protection Administration
(SEPA) and the General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) told the media that the new "Air
Quality Standard Within Automobiles" is expected to be launched
from this October.
The research and opinion-seeking phases on the standard have
already been completed. After its October launch, consumers and car
manufacturers will be able to rely on this law when investigating
vehicles' internal air quality.
A source from the China Automobile Environment Committee,
responsible for the establishment of the standard, disclosed that
work on the "Air Quality Standard Within Automobiles" began two
years ago. The original plan was to implement the stand at the end
of last year but this launch was delayed due to legal
wrangling.
The standard for air pollutants inside vehicles does not equate
with the equivalent one for houses. Many technical problems exist
in the establishment of the former standard for there are no
existing similar standards to draw from. These problems include
among others how to take accurate measurements and the filtration
of the main pollutants. At present, consumers can only examine
vehicle air quality according to the related standards of air
quality for newly decorated houses. With the launch of the "Air
Quality Standard Within Automobiles," the air quality in vehicles
will be clear to consumers.
Prior to the standard's launch, many investigations of air
pollutant inside vehicles have been conducted, the results of which
show only one tenth of cars comply with the standard, at
present.
Overall, 1,175 cars nationwide underwent tests covering all
aspects of the standard, with only 52 vehicles, or 6.18 percent of
those tested, passing the requirements. The Internal Air Monitoring
Center under the National Interior Decoration Association examined
200 vehicles in Beijing, noticing that in 90 percent of cases, the
quantity of formaldehyde or benzene in the air exceeded safe
amounts. Worryingly, the quantity of formaldehyde in the air was
five or six times the safe amount in most vehicles, with the
situation in new cars being the worst.
It was also revealed that conditions within automobiles differ
greatly from those inside houses. For example, the density of
deleterious gases inside closed vehicles could potentially increase
by several times after prolonged exposure to the sun, due to the
volatilization of the deleterious material, while the same process
is less likely to incur indoors, even at similar temperatures. The
research staff revealed that the formaldehyde and volatile organic
compounds (VOC) found in vehicles most often came from the glue
used in the rugs, vehicle roof, seats and other decorations.
Furthermore, the confined space inside vehicles, coupled with the
airtight nature of most vehicles, restricts the quantity of air
inside. Therefore, it is potentially more dangerous if noxious
gases surpass safe levels inside vehicles.
In April 2004, Fengtai district court in Beijing threw out a
lawsuit. The plaintiff claimed that the death from aplastic anemia
had been caused by the benzene level in a Maturi Alto car, but
there was not sufficient evidence to substantiate his claims.
The court also made a suggestion to the General Administration
of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) that a
standard on vehicle air quality be launched. The court also
suggested that it should be a compulsory stipulation for the
vehicle industry that vehicle air quality should meet the
standard.
(China.org.cn by Li Xiaohua, August 23, 2006)