EPA Draft Formaldehyde Assessment Report

In early June of this year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a Toxicological Review of Formaldehyde-Inhalation Assessment. The report is available for public comment and peer review for 90 days.
According to an EPA news release, “This assessment will help EPA and others to determine the level of risk it poses to Americans’ health. EPA undertook this assessment because there have been a number of potentially significant new studies published since EPA’s last review of formaldehyde toxicity.”
Exposure risks associated with formaldehyde typically comes from occupants inhaling contaminated air. Exposure to elevated levels of formaldehyde can trigger asthma attacks, nausea, watery eyes, headaches and difficulty breathing. The current “permissible exposure limits” (PELs) for formaldehyde in the workplace are 0.75 parts per million (ppm) as an 8 hour time-weighted average (TWA).
Formaldehyde is a chemical found in numerous products and common building materials. It is often used in the manufacturing process for building materials such as particleboard, fiberboard, plywood and urea-formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI). It is also a by-product of combustion and numerous industrial processes.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen. In the United States many companies have turned to Core, a leading provider of indoor air quality (IAQ) services, to provide testing solutions for formaldehyde.
“Formaldehyde exposure can cause problems in some individuals at 0.1 parts per million,” reported Don Makin, Indoor Air Quality Director of Operations for Core. “It is important to know if this chemical is present to protect people from all the health effects associated with it. If it is found at high levels there are steps that can be taken to minimize exposure.”