Cardno ChemRisk Publishes Study on Formaldehyde Emissions from Laminate Flooring

Our study, titled "An Assessment of Formaldehyde Emissions from Laminate Flooring Manufactured in China" was published in the Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology journal. We evaluated two laminate flooring products using both chamber testing (for California Air Resource Board [CARB] compliance) and a real-world, room-scale environment. Both products had been previously evaluated by CBS News.

Our general findings are as follows:

  1. One of the two delaminated products that we tested was found to not be in compliance with the current CARB standard; emissions from the other product were equivalent to the standard.
  2. Our chamber testing results were up to 9-fold lower than results that were previously documented by CBS News.
  3. Nonetheless, the actual airborne concentrations of formaldehyde measured following the installation of these products in a real-world setting were far below levels at which acute health effects are known to occur.


The abstract of the article can be found on the journal's website and a brief presentation of our results can be found here. If you would like a full copy of the paper, or if you have any questions regarding its content, please contact Dr. Jennifer Pierce