MARCH 10, 2015
Installing a new wood floor is usually about aesthetics:
brown or black? Glossy or matte?
Now, some Americans and businesses are grappling with
another feature: formaldehyde.
What is Formaldehyde?
Formaldehyde is a colorless, reactive, strong-smelling gas at
room temperature. It is one chemical in a large family of chemical compounds called
volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The term volatile means that the compounds
vaporize or become a gas at room temperature.
Formaldehyde can be manufactured as a liquid (formalin) or a
solid (paraformaldehyde). Formaldehyde is an important industrial chemical used
to make other chemicals and different types of products, such as: home
furnishings, household cleaners, paints, textiles, landscape and yard products,
medicinal and personal care products, and pesticides. Chemicals that are
created with formaldehyde or have formaldehyde added to them include the
following:
·
resins and lubricants
·
polyoxymethylene plastics
·
1,4-butanediol
·
methylene diphenyl diisocyanate
Formaldehyde can be released into the air (off-gas) from materials
and products made with it. Formaldehyde can also be released into the air by automobiles,
cigarettes, and burning wood, kerosene or natural gas. It is also a naturally occurring substance.
Formaldehyde exposure may potentially cause a variety of symptoms
and adverse health effects, such as eye, nose, throat, and skin irritation, coughing,
wheezing, and allergic reactions. Long- term
exposure to high levels of formaldehyde has been associated with cancer in humans
and laboratory animals. Formaldehyde can
affect people differently. Some people are very sensitive to formaldehyde at a certain
level while others may not have any noticeable reaction to the same level.
Formaldehyde is just one of several gases present indoors that
may cause adverse health effects and illnesses.
Many other gases, as well as respiratory illnesses (e.g., colds and the
flu), can cause similar symptoms to those caused by formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is normally present at low levels, usually less
than 0.03 parts per million (ppm), in both outdoor and indoor air. The outdoor air in rural areas has lower
concentrations while urban areas have higher concentrations (due to sources
such as automobile exhaust). Residences or offices that contain products that release
formaldehyde into the air can have levels greater than 0.03 ppm.
Uneasy consumers have flooded state and federal safety
agencies with inquiries about Lumber Liquidators, the discount flooring
retailer accused in a “60 Minutes” episode of selling laminate wood with high
levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Should they rip it out? Leave it
in? And what are the dangers to adults, children or even pets?
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York has now
opened an inquiry into whether the company violated safety standards. Safety
officials in California are also likely to investigate.
But federal regulators, armed with murky rules or none at
all, have scrambled to respond, leaving consumers largely responsible for
assessing the risk. Formaldehyde exposure can cause immediate health problems
like respiratory and sinus effects, but the effects of long-term exposure
remain unclear.
Consumers flooded safety agencies with questions about
Lumber Liquidators after “60 Minutes” raised questions about one of the store’s
products.
That has left many Lumber Liquidators customers concerned
about what they should do.
Sol Hesney, 66, and his wife, Lynne, said they were
mystified when their two dogs became sick shortly after they moved into their
apartment in Fort Lee, N.J., five years ago.
“The vet was stumped. We were stumped,” said Mr. Hesney, who
ultimately had both dogs euthanized.
After the news of Lumber Liquidators’ high-formaldehyde
flooring broke on March 1, Mr. Hesney said he and his wife decided that they
would replace their floors — they had installed the company’s Chinese-made
laminate floors before moving in.
“We looked at each other and said, ‘Maybe that’s what
explains this. It’s just too coincidental,’ ” he said. Since they moved
in, he said, he had three serious sinus colds requiring antibiotics within a
year’s time, something that had never happened to him before, and his wife had
bronchitis.
But regulators, at least for now, are advocating a more
tempered approach.
“We are not encouraging people to rip out their flooring
right now,” said Lynn Baker, an air pollution specialist with the California
Air Resources Board, which enforces the state formaldehyde rules that Lumber
Liquidators is accused of breaking.
Commercial customers could also be affected, although Lumber
Liquidators estimates that commercial sales make up less than 10 percent of the
market for laminate flooring, a cheaper alternative to hardwood. Homeowners
account for the bulk of its sales.
Laminate flooring itself is commonly used in some types of
commercial spaces, experts say.
Lumber Liquidators disputes the “60 Minutes” report and says
its flooring is safe. The company also said it was considering offering air
testing services to reassure concerned consumers.
Installers, too, find themselves on the front lines after
the report.
“The installers literally don’t want to install it,” said
David Hill, president of Texas Best Flooring in Dallas. Mr. Hill, who does not
work with Lumber Liquidators products, said he had received hundreds of emails
and at least 15 calls a day from worried consumers.
“It’s confusion.
Everybody’s confused, and everybody wants it out of their house,” Mr. Hill
said. A spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said
the agency was paying close attention to the Lumber Liquidators issue, though
as of Tuesday it had received no formal complaints.
But while federal rules exist for workers, no federal rules
protect consumers from formaldehyde or most other airborne chemicals in their
homes. And while research exists on formaldehyde’s health effects, experts have
difficulty correlating levels of exposure with cancer risk since so many
factors can affect the development of the disease.
“Any exposure to a carcinogen can increase your risk of
cancer,” said Marilyn Howarth, a toxicologist at the University of
Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.
Mr. Baker, with the California agency, said consumers should
ask two questions: How long has the flooring been installed, and have they been
feeling sick?
“If the flooring has been installed more than a couple of
years ago, most of it has probably already off-gassed,” he said, meaning that
the chemical would probably have been released. “If it was just installed last
week, that’s a different story — you definitely want to ventilate the home.”
The floorboard controversy bears a resemblance to the cases
of Chinese-made drywall that released sulfur gases into thousands of homes
built after the 2005 hurricane season, which resulted in metal corrosion and
health complaints. But while the drywall gases were expected to be released for
decades, formaldehyde emissions in flooring may not last as long.
“You’ll get a fairly large amount that off-gasses early on,
and then it starts to become less over a period ranging from months to a couple
of years depending on the amounts contained in the product,” Mr. Baker said.
Most new floors emit small levels of formaldehyde. But it
also seeps out of adhesives used to bind furniture and other household items,
affecting the quality of the air residents breathe.
To combat its harmful effects, governments around the world
have limited the use of formaldehyde in household products, particularly those
made of wood. In Europe, chemical emissions from composite wood products are
tightly regulated, and Japanese regulators put the onus on home builders to
limit formaldehyde levels over all within houses they construct.
The United States, however, trails when it comes to such
regulations. California enacted rules to cap emissions from composite wood
products sold in the state. As far back as 2009, the Environmental Protection
Agency said it was considering adopting California’s limits nationwide, and it
issued a proposed rule in 2013.
But after many delays at the request of the wood products
industry, the E.P.A. has yet to complete its rule. On Tuesday, the E.P.A. said
it had no plan to investigate Lumber Liquidators, citing the lack of a finished
rule. The agency says it is trying to give consumers “actionable guidance” when
it comes to formaldehyde from composite woods, according to Bob Axelrad, a
policy adviser in the office of air and radiation.
That includes proper ventilation, when possible, and using
reliable air testing methods.
David Krause, an environmental consultant at the consulting
firm Geosyntec and the former state toxicologist of Florida, said ventilation
helped but was not always a solution: Humidity, for example, can intensify the
problem.
Testing indoor air quality is also not a simple proposition
— mainly because federal standards are geared toward workplaces, not homes.
There are no definitive testing levels, and people react in different ways to
the chemical.
“We really don’t have anything that is enforceable,” Dr.
Krause said.
Still, based on current knowledge of the Lumber Liquidators’
product, he added: “This is not a ‘Your hair’s on fire’ emergency.”
The Consumer Product Safety Commission may take a lead role
in investigating Lumber Liquidators. The commission can push for a recall if it
can prove direct harm to human health.
But that would involve a long regulatory inquiry. Several
consumers have begun pursuing a different path: suing the company.
What are the Major Sources of Indoor Formaldehyde Emissions in Our Homes Today?
Measuring formaldehyde emissions
from individual consumer
products is difficult because a variety of products
in the home can release formaldehyde or trap formaldehyde emitted
from other sources.
Products with greater
emissions and larger
surface areas in the home
will most likely have a greater contribution to indoor air formaldehyde levels. Keep this in mind when prioritizing the different product types
below. Also, not all
brands within each product type contain formaldehyde.
Wood floor finishes: Wet commercial, base- and top-coat floor finishes.
·
May emit high
levels of formaldehyde.
·
Emissions
decrease 24 hours after application.
·
Finishes
are not typically available to the consumer, but they can be (re-) applied by commercial floor contractors at residences or factories.
Pressed-wood
and wood-based
products: Pressed-wood (i.e., hardwood plywood, particleboard,
and medium-density fiberboard (MDF)) and
wood-based products, especially those
containing UF resins, may be a
significant formaldehyde source.
·
Formaldehyde
emissions from pressed-wood products have been reduced 80-90% from levels
in the 1980’s and earlier
due to mandatory formaldehyde
emission standards in California
and national voluntary formaldehyde
emission standards, which are
described later in this booklet.
·
Emissions
decrease 6-10 months after initial testing.
Wallpaper and paints:
·
Moderate levels
of formaldehyde initially following application.
·
Levels
formed during the curing
process may be
higher than after initial application.
·
Emissions
are sometimes still detectable 1-3 months following
application.
·
Some paints
are now found with low-VOC formulations.
Combustion:
Cigarette
smoke and the combustion of other materials, such as
wood, kerosene, oil, natural gas,
and
gasoline, produce
formaldehyde.
Other materials:
Formaldehyde can be created from the chemical
reaction between ozone and other VOCs during the use of
personal computers, laser
printers, and photocopiers.
Re-emitters: Because they are porous, products,
such as carpets or gypsum
board, do not contain significant amounts of formaldehyde when new. However, they may trap formaldehyde
that is emitted into the air from other products
and
later release it into the indoor
air.