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Unless you can afford to splurge on nice hardwood floors or a new carpet, chance are you have laminate floors somewhere in your home.
For many families, laminate is a durable and affordable option when it comes to redoing floors, or even countertops,
But according to NBC News, the type of laminate you choose to put in your home could end up costing your family’s health.
An eye-opening new report by the CDC found that people who have been exposed to a specific kind of laminate sold through Lumber Liquidators are three times more likely to develop cancer than those who haven’t.
As it turns out, the reason this type of laminate is so dangerous has been linked to the high levels of formaldehyde in it.
Because the CDC has only recently linked high levels of formaldehyde to cancer, researchers had no idea how serious the effects of these chemical-laced floors were until now.
In fact, floors made with high levels of formaldehyde may cause between six and 36 cases of cancer out of 100,000 people, the CDC warns.
Breathing in too much formaldehyde can cause a slew of different health problems, including irritation of the throat, nose, and eyes.
The floors in question, which are reportedly manufactured in China, were recently featured on an episode of CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
Although Lumber Liquidators has not argued against the CDC’s findings, the company did release the following statement to NBC:
“Since March of 2015, Lumber Liquidators has offered customers free independent air quality tests to provide objective scientific information about our products. We remain committed to operating with integrity and delivering quality flooring to our customers.”
