The health ministry will seek a limit on the amount of formaldehyde allowable in materials used in the construction of large public facilities in order to reduce instances of sick-building syndrome, ministry officials said.
The ministry is also expected to try to empower local governments to order improvements of such buildings, including schools, hotels and department stores, with unacceptably high levels of formaldehyde, the officials said Monday.
Sick-building syndrome, where occupants of a building experience acute health effects that seem to be linked to time spent in a building but which cannot be identified as a specific illness, is thought to be partially caused by emissions of formaldehyde from commonly used building materials.