UNDERGROUND OAKS

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November/December 1987
 
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Inside AirI read recently that formaldehyde is a leading indoor pollutant, particularly in manufactured housing. As a mobile home resident, I'm concerned—and confused.

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Formaldehyde? Outside a biology classroom?
It's not just for embalming anymore. Pure formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a pungent, suffocating odor. Most of us have encountered it in two forms: dissolved in water (a formaldehyde solution) for preserving specimens for high-school biology; and as a small part of the air we breathe in office buildings and homes—especially mobile homes. Even though the Consumer Products Safety Commission banned the use of ureaformaldehyde foam insulation in 1982, we're still exposed to formaldehyde off-gassing from building materials, notably the glues and mastics used to make plywood and laminated paneling, to hold carpets and tiles in place and to make furniture.

Formaldehyde in the air has two kinds of health effects. First, it irritates the eyes, nose, throat and lungs. (Some people are more sen sitive than others.) More ominously, in April 1987 the EPA classified inhaled formaldehyde as a probable human carcinogen. Because concentrations are higher in mobile homes, in 1984 the Department of Housing and Urban Development limited the amount of the gas that can be emitted from plywood and from particle board floor decking and cabinetry installed in mobile homes, with an eye toward keeping ambient levels below 0.4 parts per million. Federal agencies have not yet issued new standards in response to the reclassification of formaldehyde as a carcinogen, but new rules may well be on the horizon.

There are tests available to measure the amount of formaldehyde in your home, but they're not inexpensive. You can contact your state's environmental agency or public health department for leads. Meanwhile, weather and energy conservation permitting, you may want to keep a window open or consider an air-to-air exchanger.

—David Burmaster
David Burmaster, Ph.D.,
is a consultant on indoor air pollution.

If you'd like our panel of consultants to answer a question concerning some aspect of self-reliant living that has you stumped, send it to Ask Our Experts, MOTHER EARTH NEWS, P.0. Box 70, Hendersonville, NC 28793. The most frequently asked questions will be answered here, and here only, so we can all benefit from what these folks have to say.

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