Formaldehyde Poisoning

Is formaldehyde making your children sick?

If you or your children suffer from flu-like symptoms that never seem to go away, there may be high levels of formaldehyde in your environment. Inexplicable headaches, fatigue, watery or burning eyes, stuffy nose, or throat irritation, wheezing and coughing, skin rash, and severe allergic reactions are associated with formaldehyde exposure.

Formaldehyde is a colorless, strong-smelling gas, widely used to manufacture building materials and household products and is also widely used in carpeting and permanent press fabrics. Urea formaldehyde (UF) is used significantly as an adhesive resin in pressed wood products made for indoor use like: particleboard, hardwood plywood paneling; and medium density fiberboard. Medium density fiberboard (MDF) contains a higher resin-to-wood ratio than any other UF pressed wood product and is generally recognized as being the highest formaldehyde-emitting pressed wood product.

Formaldehyde is normally present in indoor and outdoor air at low levels, usually less than 0.03 parts per million (ppm). According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, levels as low as 0.1 ppm can cause watery eyes, burning sensations in the eyes, nose and throat, stuffy nose, nausea, coughing, chest tightness, wheezing, skin rashes, and allergic reactions. High concentrations may trigger attacks in people with asthma. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that formaldehyde may reasonably be anticipated to be a human carcinogen (NTP). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that formaldehyde is probably carcinogenic to humans. The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that formaldehyde is a probably human carcinogen based on limited evidence in humans and sufficient evidence in laboratory animals.

Children in particular are at risk from exposure to toxic chemicals because their bodies are under going rapid growth and development and are likely to be in contact with these chemicals while at play. Formaldehyde levels may be particularly high in rooms that contain a lot of manufactured wood furnishings and plastics, especially if ventilation is poor. Your children can inhale formaldehyde from cabinets, shelves, wood-veneer furniture, laminated flooring, floor underlayments, paneling, and doors made of particleboard, hardwood plywood, and medium density fiberboard (MDF). These pressed woods are bonded with resins containing formaldehyde. Pressed woods made with urea formaldehyde resins emit higher levels of formaldehyde than those made with phenol formaldehyde. Decorative wood laminates may also emit formaldehyde, though at lower levels than pressed woods.

The major concerns of repeated formaldehyde exposure are sensitization and cancer. In sensitized persons, formaldehyde can cause asthma and contact dermatitis. Adverse effects on the central nervous system such as increased prevalence of headache, depression, mood changes, insomnia, irritability, attention deficit, and impairment of dexterity, memory, and equilibrium have been reported to result from long-term exposure. Chronic exposure may be more serious for children because of their potential longer latency period.

If you have serious health concerns about you or your children that you believe are associated with exposure to formaldehyde in your home, please contact us to discuss your rights.