Formaldehyde Tips You Need To Know
A substance that naturally occurs in our environment is formaldehyde, which you may have heard referred to as oxomethane or methyl aldehyde. While this is a natural substance, man has pushed the presence of the chemical, which is toxic, to high levels today. Unfortunately, it happens to be one of the pollutants indoors that is extremely common. At room temperatures it turns into a gas, making it a VOC, or volatile organic compound. Trying to avoid products that contain formaldehyde can be tough, since it is used in the creation of adhesives and plastics.
More than likely you would be surprised to find out how many common products contain formaldehyde. Just a few items that you have at home or at the office that can include formaldehyde include disinfectants, particle board, air fresheners, doors, glues, foam, old carpet, paints, ironing sprays, furniture, cleaning fluids, furniture, polishes, hair products, cosmetics, and more. When you think about it, it is quite frightening to realize how much formaldehyde is all around you.
Why is formaldehyde such a problem? Well, products that have it will slowly give off vapors that are toxic. If you inhale more than 0.1 concentrations of this toxin, it can lead to headaches, problems breathing, and irritation to the mucous and eye membranes. Many homes, offices, and other enclosed areas have more than this amount in them. Also, when formaldehyde comes into contract with your skin, it can cause dermatitis, burns, and irritation. Too much can even be deadly and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has it listed as a human carcinogen. Not only is this problematic for humans, but it can have the same affect on birds and animals as well.
In urban areas especially, you really can’t totally keep away from formaldehyde. Not only is it created on purpose by man today, but when smog interacts with the sun light, it also creates more formaldehyde. It can be found in the smoke from cigarettes too. While you can’t totally avoid it, there are some things you can do to limit exposure. Driving less can definitely help. Another thing you can do is to examine all products you purchase and look for formaldehyde and the other names it often goes by as well.
Not sure how to figure out what is in your products? It can be hard because some products don’t list their ingredients. The internet can help you out in this case. You can run a search on a search engine like Google or Yahoo. Search by using the product name and ingredients. This way you can find out what ingredients are in the products you are using.
In many cases, instead of purchasing disinfectants, polishes, cleaning fluids, and air fresheners, making your own is a great alternative, allowing you to know what is in the products. Not only can this be better for the environment and your health, but it also can save you a lot of money.
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessments lowered their recommended maximium concentration of formaldehyde in a home from 27 ppb to 7 ppb in November 2008.
The California Air Resources Board’s report published December 15, 2009 states:
“Nearly all homes (98%) had formaldehyde concentrations that exceeded guidelines for cancer and chronic irritation…”
Testing to determine if you have a problem is easy and inexpensive. Using a passive ACS badge for formaldehyde like the Sierra Club did to discovery the FEMA trailers is only $39 including the lab analysis and is simple enough that anyone able to follow a few simple instructions can do.
Formaldehyde doubles for every 10 degree increase in temperature combined with insulation often being a major source so testing on a warm summer day is best.
Formaldehyde is more harmful to children. Consequently, testing family homes is more important. I would especially encourage anyone living in a home with yellow or pink fiberglass wall insulation and/or double pane windows to test their home to determine the concentration of formaldehyde.
Fortunately, the fix is often as simple as removing, moving and/or sealing formaldehyde source(s) and/or increasing ventilation by opening the windows daily or by bring in enough fresh air to have a complete air exchange every hour like commercial buildings are required to do.
Wonder why with the outside air being less polluted, few people are smoking, and more awareness about second hand smoke that frequency of asthma and other health issues continues to climb rapidly? The answer is really simple. Essentially nobody is monitoring the air quality in our homes where we spend the bulk of our time. Indoor air quality has been getting worse since the late 70′s largely as a result of changing building practices. For thirty years we have been sealing homes progressively better to safe energy. Unfortunately, this also allows less dilution of the indoor pollution causing the pollution levels of the air we breath the most to actually increase. Additionally, we have been adding more pollution sources as we increase the use of manufactured products and wrap the walls, floors and ceiling with insultation often using a formaldehyde resin.
More information about residential formaldehyde exposure can be found at
The executive summary:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-310exec_sum.pdf
The full report:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/past/04-310.pdf
The principal researcher’s power point presentation:
http://iee-sf.com/resources/pdf/ResidentialVentilation.pdf
Unintended Consequences: Formaldehyde in Green Homes
http://www.aihasynergist-digital.org/aihasynergist/201002?pg=32