Parents in China Worry About Toxic Formaldehyde as Schools Begin New Term

Parents in China Worry About Toxic Formaldehyde as Schools Begin New Term
Chinese students wait in line for lunch in a classroom at a school in Beijing on December 18, 2015. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
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Parents of school-age children in China are growing concerned about reports that the carcinogen formaldehyde has been found in many nurseries and primary schools.
On Sept. 1, thousands of parents gathered in Leiyang, Hunan Province, to protest a government plan to move elementary-school students into renovated private-school classrooms that had unsafe levels of formaldehyde. On the same day, similar concerns resulted in fifth- and sixth-grade students at a Xi’an primary school not attending class on schedule.