Formaldehyde! Where?

Formaldehyde is an aldehyde, found naturally in the environment. The IUPAC name of Formaldehyde is formaldehyde while its other names include Methyl aldehyde, Methylene glycol, Formalin, and etc. Formalin is the liquid form of Formaldehyde, which is used in commercial use. It was first produced by Alexander Mikhailovich in 1859 but was discovered by A.W. Hoffman in 1869. For manufacturing purposes, it is produced through the catalytic oxidation of methanol or silver (Gerberich & Seaman, 2013). Hoffmann had produced the chemical is a similar way. He passed a mixture of methanol and air over a heated platinum spiral and then identified formaldehyde as the product (Gerberich & Seaman, 2013). Formaldehyde is a very toxic chemical and has even been stated as “ known to be human carcinogen” by US national Toxicology Program (Formaldehyde, n.d.). Contact with skin can cause injury along with dryness, cracking, and scaling. People with asthma and bronchitis are very sensitive to formaldehyde because it irritates the airway (What you should know…, n.d). However formaldehyde is extremely dangerous only when exposed at high levels (14.3ppm). For example, in a study it was found that rats exposed to formaldehyde at two dose levels, contracted nasal cancer. While rats that were exposed to the chemical at low levels showed similar but smaller responses (Formaldehyde, n.d.).

Formaldehyde is used in a lot of building materials and household products such as walls, cabinets and furniture. It is also used in industrial and medical setting, where it is used as a sterilizing agent, industrial disinfectant and a preservative in funeral homes (Gerberich & Seaman, 2013. Bakelite, the first plastic contained formaldehyde and phenol together as a synthetic polymer (Gerberich & Seaman, 2013. An interesting thing about formaldehyde is that it is an ingredient used in cough drops and mouthwashes (Formaldehyde, n.d). This is basically stating that human are exposed to formaldehyde on a daily basis, however the exposure is not close to 14.3ppm.

Formaldehyde was also discovered in many Canadian home insulations and it became a very controversial topic. Canadian mortgage and housing Corporation (CMHC) accepted a home insulation program, which was implemented by the national government for providing financial assistance to the buyers of insulation materials (Jasanoff, 1986). For this, the CMHC accepted many products by the Urea Formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI). It was later discovered that the UFFI insulation program was plagued as the consumers complained about having headaches, eye irritation, and respiratory difficulties (Jasanoff, 1986). In 1981, three years after UFFI had been accepted as a product by the CMHC, the product was banned by the Department of National health and welfare under the authority of Hazardous Products Act. Compensation was given to the consumers that were affected by the insulation in their homes (Jasanoff, 1986). The use of formaldehyde has been a controversial topic because, although it has been stated as a carcinogenic compound, it is still widely used all around us. This is because the toxicity of formaldehyde depends on the levels of exposure to it.

References:

Jasanoff, S. (1986). Risk management and political culture: a comparative study of science in the policy context. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Bronkema, J. L. (2007). Partial oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde over isolated vanadate species supported on high surface area metal oxides. Ann Arbor: ProQuest LLC.

Gerberich, H. R., & Seaman, G. C. (2013). Formaldehyde. In Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology (pp. 1-22).

Formaldehyde (Rep. No. CAS No. 50-00-0). (n.d.). Retrieved https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/content/profiles/formaldehyde.pdf

Formaldehyde. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/formaldehyde#section=2D-Structure

What You Should Know about Formaldehyde. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2017, from https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/drywall/docs/whatyoushouldknowaboutformaldehyde.pdf  

Chemical and Physical Information. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2017, from https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp111-c3.pdf

Did you know? Formaldehyde is used in the manufacture of a wide range of everyday objects [Photograph found in Formacare]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 7, 2017, from http://www.formacare.org/about-formaldehyde/#&gid=1&pid=1