Wrapping Our Minds Around Formaldehyde

Author

Article by Rich Donnell,

Editor-In-Chief

This issue of Panel World reports on several interesting developments, one of which is EPA’s release of its “final rule” on formaldehyde emission levels for composite panels and the related certification and recordkeeping stipulations. It’s similar to the CARB rule that originated in California, to which industry is no stranger.

I printed out the 272-page ruling and made some of the editors aware it was there and invited them to digest it. Suddenly the editors all left on vacation. I suppose it should have fallen into my lap, since I have some historical perspective of the formaldehyde issue, which I didn’t dare tell them because they tend to laugh at me when I say things like that.

However I do know that the formaldehyde issue surfaced in the early 1970s when Charles Morschauser, who was the technical director of the National Particleboard Assn., told Bill Ives, who was legal counsel for the association, that someone had raised a question about whether or not because of the off-gassing of formaldehyde, companies should be concerned because it might violate the federal law that prohibits the shipment of chemicals. Ives said it might be an issue but he wasn’t sure if the association wanted to tackle it yet, and so they sent a notice to all the companies that this may present an issue at some point and meanwhile to handle it individually.

Then other things happened. Some manufactured home occupants complained of irritation, leading to a 1979 study by the Chemical Industry Institute of Technology that found that over a two-year period, high levels of inhaled formaldehyde—15.0 ppm no less—caused nasal cancer in lab rats. Then Consumer Products Safety Commission investigated a few installation problems with urea formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI) used primarily as retrofit insulation in older houses; and then some lawsuits surfaced against wood panel and UFFI suppliers and home builders that placed a stigma on the resale of houses containing UFFI; and then there was the accompanying media coverage that found the particulars too complex to delve into and caved in to environmental sound bites.

The issue turned into a major discussion in the 1980s between health scientists, regulatory agencies and industry. The particleboard/MDF industry reacted swiftly and worked with the adhesive industry on new resin technologies in combination with improved panel manufacturing process, resulting in great reduction of formaldehyde emission. That didn’t stop HUD from entering the picture in 1985 with a regulation, and OSHA from doing the same. The State of Minnesota became the only state that had a formaldehyde emission standard. EPA started looking at it around the same time. In 1991 EPA classified formaldehyde as a “probable human carcinogen based on limited evidence in humans and sufficient evidence in animals.”

But these things take time, and it wasn’t until 2009 when airborne toxic control measures derived by the California Air Resources Board took effect in California, followed in 2010 by U.S. House and Senate legislation directing EPA to establish a national standard, comparable to CARB, resulting in the 272-page final rule that I eventually skimmed, but by no means fully deciphered.

For further information log on website :
http://www.panelworldmag.com/wrapping-minds-around-formaldehyde/