I’ve been reading FH for years and have been impressed with the way new, improved, green, safer and healthier building techniques are introduced and promoted. Why is formaldehyde different? The EPA websites basically say to stay away from greater than .1ppm and new houses are around .3ppm. It seems that we should never use plywood, flake board or mdf unless it is made without formaldehyde glues. What am I missing? Is formaldehyde too sensitive a topic for FH to take a stance?
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You'll get differing opinions on the topic because of basic genetics. Due to genetic quirks a few people (maybe 1% of the population) are sensitive to very low levels of formaldehyde, while most people can safely tolerate levels more than 10x higher. So it's a question of whether you're worried about that 1% or not.
And of course, while building materials may outgas substantial amounts of formaldehyde initially, that outgassing falls off very rapidly -- probably dropping by a factor of 2 every one or two months. So a house that measures "high" when built may be comfortably "safe" by the time someone buys it a couple of months later.
On a program I saw on the Science channel, the fellow said that we have been absorbing formaldehyde from all the new products that came onto the market since the 1920's... It was today that a local newcast covered many baby products having small amounts of it in products like wipes and shampoo. The mfg. companies said it's under the gov't guidelines, but the tone was "Any formaldehyde is TOO much."
What was the kicker in the Science channel program was that the host said, "Today, it takes HALF the formaldehyde for embalming than it did less than 70 years ago because we've absorbed so much into our bodies."........ ;>(
Bill
"Today, it takes HALF the formaldehyde for embalming than it did less than 70 years ago because we've absorbed so much into our bodies."
Quite frankly, I don't believe it. That falls under my TGTBT classification.
Yeah, I have serious doubts about that too.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith
Quite frankly, I don't believe it. That falls under my TGTBT classification
Okay......
On a lighter side, here's some twisted and deathly humor I found....;>)
To be Sung to the tune of The Mickey Mouse club....
Well, boys and girls, there’s no better way to end, than with a SONG! Hey there — All you Formaldateers
— are you ready? Here goes!
Who’s the toxic gas of the club
That embalms you and me?
F-O-R-M-A-L-De-H-Y-D-E
Cancer here! Asthma there! Gas everywhere!
“You’re as embalmed as you can beâ€
F-O-R-M-A-L-De-H-Y-D-E
Formaldehyde! Yes, it stinks!
Formaldehyde! It comes in pink!
Forever let us blow our monitors HIGH!
HIGH! HIGH! HIGH!
Pour some more and gasp for breath
And become an embalmee
F-O-R-M-A-L-De-H-Y-D-E
(and now the ending)
(softly and gaspingly)
Now’s the time to wheeze goodbye
To all our embalmees
Through the years we’ve gassed ourselves
Embalming you and me
F-O-R-M-A-L-De-H-Y-D-E
Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde,
Forever let us blow our monitors HIGH!
F-O-R ....“R†you embalmed?
M-A-L..... “Lâ€? Because it smells like “Lâ€
De-H-Y-D-E
—