Re: Re: Formaldehyde

destowe@pipeline.com
Tue, 25 Jun 1996 07:02:12 GMT

On Tue, Jun 25, 1996 6:58:32 AM, Greg Schmitz wrote:

>
>Don:
>
>I don't mean to nitpick but what's your source? Who says that 10-20%
>of the U.S. poplulation has been adversely affected by formaldehyde?
>Sorry but this is a button issue for me - the mere fact that something
>appeared on the web is absolutely meaningless. If I believed, and
>acted upon everything that has been published out there in the
>InterNet Wasteland I'd probably be dead by now (or perhaps would have
>blown up my house).

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>
>The formaldehyde thing has been hashed out here already (see the
>archives). While the EPA has found formaldehyde to be a "probable
>human carcinogen" or is it "a carcinogen" (I should read the archives)
>it is my understanding that the EPA's methodology in determining the
>long term toxic effects of chemicals is questionable at best.
>
>-greg schmitz

Here is a portion of an article from National Cancer Institute National
Institutes of Health:



Redistributed by University of Bonn, Medical Center

Formaldehyde



CancerNet from the National Cancer Institute


CANCER FACTS National Cancer Institute National Institutes of Health

In 1980, laboratory findings showed that exposure to formaldehyde could
cause nasal cancer in
rats. Since then, the question of whether exposure to formaldehyde
increases a person's risk of
cancer has been the subject of considerable controversy.

Early concerns focused on the use of formaldehyde in the manufacture of
mobile homes. Soon,
however, questions were raised about workers routinely exposed to the
substance: anatomists,
embalmers, pathologists, other medical workers, and industrial workers who
produce
formaldehyde (and formaldehyde resins and plastics), plywood, photographic
film, and permanent
press fabrics.

During the 1980s, many studies, including major ones by the National Cancer
Institute (NCI), were
conducted to determine whether these workers had a greater risk for
developing cancer than people
in the general population. Much of this research was intended to help two
regulatory agencies, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration
(OSHA), develop regulations, if necessary, to protect the public and
workers from unnecessary
risks of cancer because of formaldehyde exposure. Investigations at NCI
have focused on
professionals (anatomists and embalmers) as well as industrial workers.
Anatomists and embalmers
were at greater risk for leukemia and brain cancer than the general
population, but industrial
workers were not. Industrial workers employed in the chemical, plastics,
plywood, and
photographic film industries developed nasopharyngeal cancer more often
than the general
population. The risk increased sevenfold for workers with heavy exposure to
formaldehyde.
Studies in the Netherlands and Denmark have shown elevated rates of nasal
cancer in many persons
exposed to formaldehyde.

An NCI study that revealed a 30-percent increase in lung cancer mortality
among industrial workers
generated the most controversy. The rate of lung cancer did not increase
with the level of exposure,
and an excess rate of lung cancer among workers was not evident at all
industrial plants. The
increased incidence of lung cancer was confined to workers in resin and
molding compound
production, which led NCI investigators to conclude that factors other than
formaldehyde might
have been involved. Other scientists believe formaldehyde exposure may be
the cause of the lung
cancer excess.

By 1987, enough evidence had been gathered to prompt EPA to classify
formaldehyde as a
"probable human carcinogen" under conditions of unusually high or prolonged
exposure. The
International Agency for Research on Cancer also concluded that
formaldehyde is a probable human
carcinogen. The OSHA and EPA concluded that new rules governing exposure
limits were
necessary. In November 1987, OSHA proposed that the occupational standard
for formaldehyde
exposure be reduced from 3 parts per million (ppm) to 1 ppm, averaged over
an 8-hour workday;
this proposal became law the following month. In May 1992, the law was
amended, and the
formaldehyde exposure limit was reduced to 0.75 ppm. (Information is
available from the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue NW,
Room N3647,
Washington, DC 20210.)


Here is another one from the Chemical Industry institute of Toxicology:


CHEMICAL INDUSTRY INSTITUTE
OF TOXICOLOGY

CIIT is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Founded in 1974,
CIIT is a
not-for-profit toxicology research institute dedicated to providing an
improved scientific basis for understanding and assessing the potential
adverse effects of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products on
human health. CIIT is supported by 36 industrial organizations.

Cytotoxic Chemicals and Cancer

Preparing metabolism cages for benzene studies

Certain chemicals are cytotoxic; that is, they have the potential to kill
cells, especially with high
exposure. Recurrent cell death, resulting in increased cell proliferation,
has been associated with the
development of malignancies in experimental animals with prolonged exposure
to some cytotoxic
chemicals.

The objective of CIIT's research is to understand the mechanisms through
which cytotoxic
chemicals induce tumors in test animals and to develop biologically-based
risk assessment
approaches for assessing potential human cancer risk at low levels of
exposure.

The story of the Institute's work with formaldehyde is a good example.
CIIT's landmark bioassay
of this widely-used chemical, completed in 1979, found that lifetime
exposure of rats and mice at
high concentrations causes nasal cancer in rats. Expanding on these
findings, CIIT scientists began
to develop a comprehensive body of work on the mechanistic toxicity of
formaldehyde, including
research on DNA interactions, cell death and proliferation, nasal tract
morphology, formaldehyde
metabolism, and epidemiological studies. Today, CIIT scientists are widely
regarded as the
foremost experts on the toxicology of adlehydes, and CIIT data are used by
governmental agencies
in the regulation of formaldehyde throughout the world.

And finally :

IF I DON'T SEEM TO HAVE A PROBLEM, CAN I FORGET ABOUT
FORMALDEHYDE?

Even if you don't seem to be hypersensitive to formaldehyde, it seems clear
that since it definitely
doesn't do the human body any good, you might as well avoid it whenever
possible - especially if
you have young children in your home. (Because young children breath at a
more rapid rate, they
inhale more formaldehyde fumes then adults and are therefore at a greater
risk.)


My main purpose for posting about Formaldehyde was to alert those of you
who use it to the potential dangers.

I am a newbie on this list (in fact, re: Formaldehyde was my first post)
but I am not a newbie when it comes to chemicals.

With all due respect,

Don

Donald E. Stowe (Don) <destowe@pipeline.com>