Who ever heard of outgassing or, what to do in your retirement?

This summer we purchased some inexpensive bedroom furniture for the Lake House.

It was manufactured by Ashley and was bought from the Warehouse of Dinettes in 

St. Charles. It was made of particle board and had a nice brown wood finish on the 

outside. When the drawers were opened there was a pungent woody odor which we 

thought was because it was new. We assumed that the smell would disappear. It hasn't 

disappeared and seems to be getting worse. It has not caused me problems with my 

breathing but Jan is certain that it was causing headache, dizzyness, weakness and 

nausea which symptoms improved and then disappeared when she stayed out of the 

bedroom. 

Jan googled 'web complaints about Ashley furniture' and found that there are multiple 

people with the same odor issue. It is apparently caused by the smells arising from the 

materials in the particle board and glues used in the manufacturing process. This process 

is described as outgassing. It is of interest since the materials used in manufacturing particleboard contain formaldehyde which is not only irritating but toxic. The level of formaldehyde outgassing from this source is regulated by our federal government. So the fumes arising from our new furniture is supposedly safe even if irritating. In various reports the smell was said to disappear in time periods of 2 months to 5 to 10 years. Heat and humidity are reported to cause the smell to reappear at times. 

I called the Warehouse of Dinettes and Ron said he had never heard of this issue but 

would call his Ashley sales rep. I Called Ashley Consumer Affairs and the representative

and her supervisor both said that the formaldehyde levels in Ashley furniture were within federal guidelines and that they had been told to say that the smell would dissipate 'in time'.

What to do? Suggestions from friends have run the gamut from putting it up for sale on e-Bay to giving it away to throwing it in the lake or burning it. I have ordered a product called SafeCoat TopSeal which is made specifically for this issue of outgassing. I am to brush it on the particle board surface (2 coats)to solve this dilemma. More later.
Addendum: After three coats of sealer the furniture was odor free enough to bring back into the bedroom from the garage. It only took me about a month to seal the four pieces.