Never mind city pollution - the air in your apartment can be just as bad for you, environmental industry delegates from seven countries heard in Shanghai on Tuesday.

Indoor air quality in the city is not good, delegate Zhu Shengsheng told the Indoor Environmental Purification International Forum.

A test done late last year among 100 local families showed 92 percent of families suffered from polluted air, caused by toxic gases like formaldehyde and benzene from substandard decoration materials and furniture in most cases.

Among 92 families, 34 percent of them had apartments in which formaldehyde exceeded 0.24 milligrams per cubic meter, triple the national standard.

"Statistics showed household owners spend 26 yuan per square meter, a record high, to purify their newly decorated home on average last year," Zhu said, "which means more and more people realize the importance of good indoor air quality."

Delegates signed a Shanghai Proposal on Tuesday to appeal for stricter regulations to control indoor air pollution and more financial support from the government.

The forum heard that indoor air pollution is becoming the eighth most-important factor for disease and could threaten the health and safety of urban populations globally.

Delegates appealed for stricter laws to punish furniture manufacturers who use substandard decoration materials.

They also demanded more financial support for house owners to test air quality in their newly decorated houses.

At present, there is no means for people to complain about air quality and ask for refunds.

Larry Weber, a delegate from the United States, pointed out that people spend up to 90 percent of time indoor every day.

Bad air quality can lead to diseases like asthma, allergies and even SARS, he said.

Delegates from China, the Untied States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Korea and Japan attended the forum.

(Shanghai Daily April 4, 2007)