After initial research done by the Shanghai Children's Hospital and Shanghai Environmental Protection Industry Association in a study last year, the answer is: well, yeah maybe. In a study of 30 children with leukemia, it was discovered that 15 came from homes with furniture or decor with excessive formaldehyde discharge.
Formaldehyde in China: Are your cabinets giving your kid cancer??
Shanghai sees 10-fold rise of kids with cancer
Tomorrow is World Cancer Day and the outlook on cancer in Shanghai isn't shiny - according to local medical experts, there has been a 10-fold increase in the number of children in Shanghai hospitalized for cancer in the past decade. The disease is responsible for 10% of local children's deaths and has risen to be the second leading cause of death for grade school kids, after accidents. We couldn't find much more info, but experts have said the rise is linked to unhealthy diets, second-hand smoking and exposure to toxic chemicals.
Expat kids: befriend someone with leukemia on Children's Day
We saw a curious little blurb on Shanghai Daily this morning calling all expat children to head over to the Shanghai Discovery Children’s Museum (上海儿童博物) on May 30 to meet kids with leukemia. Our interest piqued, we gave them a call.
Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical is going to hell
The above is from a report about the cancer patients affected by the corrupted medicine from Shanghai's Hualian Pharmaceutical. According to an article from Jan. 10:
Under the guidance of and with the participation of a joint investigation team set up between the Ministry of Health and State Drug and Food Administration, concerned departments in Shanghai identified the cause of the accident: Hualian's staff mixed Vincristine Sulfate into Methotrexate for injection and Cytarabine for injection, and this caused damage to the drugs and made them unqualified and unusable.

