EPA determines formaldehyde poses an 'unreasonable risk' to humans and must be regulated

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

01/03/25 4:20 PM ET


The Biden administration has officially determined the chemical formaldehyde poses an “unreasonable” risk to human health and should be regulated. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said this week that “formaldehyde presents an unreasonable risk of injury to human health, specifically to workers and consumers.”

The agency noted that the chemical “is found nearly everywhere” and so “people are routinely exposed to formaldehyde in indoor and outdoor environments, often from more than one source at a time.”

It also said that long-term exposure to the substance can cause cancer, as well as reduced lung function and worsened asthma. As a result, it said it would try to address the “unreasonable risk” by proposing a rule to protect workers and consumers.

“Having made that unreasonable risk determination, [the Toxic Substances Control Act] requires EPA to issue a rule that fully eliminates formaldehyde’s unreasonable risks,” Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, a senior attorney at environmental group Earthjustice, told The Hill.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5066408-epa-formaldehyde-unreasonable-risk/

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Link to EPA RELEASE - EPA Finalizes TSCA Risk Evaluation for Formaldehyde

[NJCher]

1. Clothing manufacturers use it

To put a finish on the fabric. Over three weeks ago, I tried on a top, and walked away with an extreme itching on my arms and upper chest that took days to go away.

I still have it a little bit. I looked up the symptoms and found that it could be an allergic reaction to formaldehyde.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. So much of our clothing is imported

that it will be difficult to actually regulate the use of it by foreign countries for that HUGE category of products that we import.

[Evolve Dammit]

13. Always wash new clothes

[NJCher]

17. I didn't buy it

Needless to say.

Of course I always wash new clothes.

[Evolve Dammit]

30. Lots of folks don't and the chemicals used can be quite toxic!

[C0RI0LANUS]

2. I was hospitalized for formaldehyde poisoning emanating from the particle board flooring of my condo.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I remember the sad instances of those FEMA trailers delivered after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

many having been newly built and still having fumes from the formaldehyde within their interiors.

Katrina, Rita victims get $42.6M in toxic FEMA trailer suit

September 28, 2012 / 10:35 PM EDT / AP


NEW ORLEANS A federal judge gave his final approval Thursday to a $42.6 million class-action settlement between companies that made and installed government-issued trailers after hurricanes in 2005 and Gulf Coast storm victims who claim they were exposed to hazardous fumes while living in the shelters.

U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt ruled from the bench after hearing from attorneys who brokered a deal resolving nearly all remaining court claims over elevated levels of formaldehyde in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Roughly 55,000 residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas will be eligible for shares of $37.5 million paid by more than two dozen manufacturers. They also can get shares of a separate $5.1 million settlement with FEMA contractors that installed and maintained the units.

Gerald Meunier, a lead plaintiffs' attorney, said the deal provides residents with "somewhat modest" compensation but allows both sides to avoid the expense and risks of protracted litigation. "Dollar amounts alone do not determine whether a settlement is fair and reasonable," he said. Jim Percy, a lawyer for the trailer makers, said Engelhardt would have had to try cases individually or transfer suits to other jurisdictions if the settlement wasn't reached. "It was not going to end quickly, and it was going to be even more monumental for all the parties concerned," he said.

Formaldehyde, a chemical commonly found in building materials, can cause breathing problems and is classified as a carcinogen. Government tests on hundreds of trailers in Louisiana and Mississippi found formaldehyde levels that were, on average, about five times what people are exposed to in most modern homes.

(snip)

[C0RI0LANUS]

5. Hi BRDS, yes, I remember that all too well. Thanks "Dubya!" I was told my lungs could have collapsed.

I have absolutely no clue what took the government so long to do something about formaldehyde.



Link:


https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/05/health/formaldehyde-cancer-air-pollutant-propublica/index.html

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Formaldehyde

is so ubiquitous and has been for centureis - including for embalming, and preserving (anyone who did dissections of various critters in high school would have encountered it as the critters were stored in it). I know in my lab, we worked with it in a hood.

There are literally thousands and thousands of museums, schools (all levels), and research facilities filled with jars or other containers that used formaldehyde and/or formalin (and in some cases, ethanol) to preserve various things. E.g. -


Fish specimens are preserved using formaldehyde at the Australian National Fish Collection. CSIRO, Author provided

(above from here - https://theconversation.com/old-goopy-museum-specimens-can-tell-fascinating-stories-of-wildlife-history-finally-we-can-read-them-165013)

At this point, about the only thing that can be done is to phase out any further use and try to make sure that whatever is stored using it, is kept in a ventilated location.

[C0RI0LANUS]

28. Looking at those jars made me sick. I wouldn't wish formaldehyde poisoning on my worst enemy.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. To this day I regret buying a bunk bed for one of my kids that had particle board.

It said oak, but it was only oak on the parts you could see. Underneath there was particle board.

I was so worn down by then. I got railed by my family when I threw out the George Foremans.

[orleans]

18. what was up with the "george formans" ?? aren't those the little grills for the kitchen? nt

[Baitball Blogger]

20. Teflon. When the news came out, they were listed as one of the suspect products.

I have no idea what they're made out of now.

[orleans]

27. got it. thanks. i never had one so i wasn't sure nt

[BComplex]

8. It is absolutely infuriating that they are JUST NOW figuring this out. I've always had extreme reactions

to formaldehyde fumes, as have so many people I've known. I'm well over 70 years old. The first time I had a problem was in high school biology class. I got a horrible headache and my eyes became swollen. A few years later while away at college, some of us got a brand new mobile home rental, and I couldn't live there, it was so toxic with formaldehyde.

Wonder how the industry managed to avoid this new "risk evaluation" for over 50 years!?

Damn it!!

[BumRushDaShow]

9. They have known (as a retired chemist myself, I certainly knew)

As I mentioned above - there is so much stuff that used it over the centuries that to try to tackle how to start to remove it, is daunting.

It's just like dealing with phasing out the coolants (like Freon) that were blowing holes in the Ozone layer of our atmosphere and coming up with alternatives while laying out a timeline to transition out of the use of it, and find ways to dispose of it. In the case of the coolants, the effort started back in the late '80s finally leading to a phase out starting over 30 years ago, and finally a ban of the latest version of it just under 5 years ago.

Similarly we are seeing how PFAS is finally being handled as another one of those groups of chemicals that have been around for some time and are everywhere - with a need for a process to help transition out of their use and come up with disposal solutions.

[niyad]

10. NSS. I have always had reactions to formaldehyde, starting as a teen when I

could not wear nail polish, and on through not being able to be around new mobile homes, new carpeting, particle board, etc. Fotunately, none of my reactions have been as severe as others have described here, mostly headaches, burning throat, teary eyes, itchy skin.

But, per BRDS's post above, we are facing an enormous task.

[IcyPeas]

22. Yes. Nail polish

There's a sub-reddit about nail care and the subject of formaldehyde often gets discussed. People looking for polish with no formaldehyde. There are brands now that don'thave it.

I have wondered about the nail care technicians at salons. Some wear masks.

[niyad]

32. For a very long time, only a few, very expensive, European brands of polish

did not contain formaldehyde. I have no idea what the stats are now, because I have not worn any in over 40 years.

I worry for the techs at the salons, being around that all the time.

[chouchou]

11. Trump and his band-of-idiots will say: "Looks like that stuff might just cure them flu's and colds"

[Wicked Blue]

12. I wonder if the Orange Traitor drinks the stuff

and marinates in it every night.

[chouchou]

15. Probably. Makes him smarter.

[Evolve Dammit]

14. Chemical lobby will wield more clout than ever in a few weeks.

[Martin68]

16. They knew formaldehyde was carcinogenic back in the early 70s. in Comparative Anatomy class, when we are were

dissecting specimens preserved in formaldehyde, we were warned to "be careful" (whoever that means).

[IcyPeas]

19. Formaldehyde was used in milk in the 1890s (Smithsonian article - infants died)

The 19th-Century Fight Against Bacteria-Ridden Milk Preserved With Embalming Fluid
….
Finally, if the milk was threatening to sour, dairymen added formaldehyde, an embalming compound long used by funeral parlors, to stop the decomposition, also relying on its slightly sweet taste to improve the flavor. In the late 1890s, formaldehyde was so widely used by the dairy and meat-packing industries that outbreaks of illnesses related to the preservative were routinely described by newspapers as “embalmed meat” or “embalmed milk” scandals.

… the dairy industry to deal with milk’s bacterial problems simply by dumping formaldehyde into the mix. And although Hurty would later become a passionate advocate of pasteurization, at first he endorsed the idea of chemical preservatives.

In 1896, desperately concerned about diseases linked to pathogens in milk, he even endorsed formaldehyde as a good preservative. The recommended dose of two drops of formalin (a mix of 40 percent formaldehyde and 60 percent water) could preserve a pint of milk for several days. It was a tiny amount, Hurty said, and he thought it might make the product safer.

In the summer of 1900, The Indianapolis News reported on the deaths of three infants in the city’s orphanage due to formaldehyde poisoning. A further investigation indicated that at least 30 children had died two years prior due to use of the preservative, and in 1901, Hurty himself referenced the deaths of more than 400 children due to a combination of formaldehyde, dirt, and bacteria in milk.

This article is very interesting:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/19th-century-fight-bacteria-ridden-milk-embalming-fluid-180970473/

[C0RI0LANUS]

24. Putting formaldehyde into milk was NOT a Nobel Prize winning concept. Are we lab rats for companies?

[pnwmom]

21. Tiny amounts are in vaccines, so RFK et al will latch onto this. nt

[womanofthehills]

34. Tiny amounts put into vaccines like Polio & DTap

To kill live virus.

When I was younger and making pottery - we would make up glazes in our classes in 5 gallon buckets and then pour in lots of formaldehyde to keep bacteria out - and the worst part - stir it with our arms. This was at UNM years ago where we also had lead and uranium in jars to use in glazes if we wished. We also filled up the cracks in the kilns with asbestos. Art was dangerous in those days. No vents in classrooms or darkrooms.

My long time honey used to be a builder - so when he and I built most of my current house - we framed it with real wood, not plywood to avoid formaldehyde.

EPA lists it as a possible carcinogen.

[OverBurn]

23. I put a couple of spoonfuls in my morning coffee, for ageing prevention.

[live love laugh]

36. It's "helped" a lot of people prevent aging.

[KT2000]

25. Thank the Koch brothers

We can thank the Koch brothers for this taking so long. As premier manufacturers of formaldehyde, they stalled safety investigations.
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/lies-koch-brothers-tell

Japan and Europe do not allow it in children's clothing - we do.

Self- monitoring by manufacturers has not worked in the US.

It should be regulated as a pesticide because it is used to retard mold growth.

An Italian study found formaldehyde levels in a factory to be within limits. When they tested the dust, it was 5000 ppm and that is what goes up the noses of workers. We can surmise that the dust in our home is full of formaldehyde.

Formaldehyde is in just about everything - particle board in home construction, furniture, clothing, glues, personal care products, paint, yard chemicals, medical supplies, and more.

[bucolic_frolic]

26. I thought formaldehyde was removed from building materials about 1990

plywood, flake board and the like.

[Marthe48]

29. I massaged my Dad's feet with formaldehyde

His dr. prescribed it to treat foot fungus or something. I massaged his feet with that smelly stuff for months. It didn't help, and he stopped using it. Mid 60s.

[Tweedy]

31. So what can we do to lower our exposure?

[flamingdem]

33. Wear 100% cotton clothing

Buy organic and "non-toxic" everything. But it gets pricey.

[womanofthehills]

35. Buy nothing made with pressed wood

Some leather couches are were treated with formaldehyde- I don’t know if they still are. They stunk to me.