Inhalation Exposure to Formaldehyde: An Overview of Its Toxicology, Epidemiology, Monitoring, and Control

Abstract

Increasing production and use of formaldehyde in consumer products have resulted in widespread recognition of its acute irritant effects at exposure levels below the current occupational health standard [3 parts per million parts of air (ppm)]. Formaldehyde is an allergic (immunologically mediated) skin sensitizer which may also cause or exacerbate respiratory distress in individuals with preexisting or formaldehyde-induced bronchial hyperreactivity. Formaldehyde gas is a very reactive alkylating agent which is mutagenic in several in vitro test systems. At exposure levels less than one order of magnitude greater than those often found in human occupational and nonoccupational environments, it induces squamous cell carcinomas in the nasal cavity of rats. Recent reviews suggest that formaldhyde exposure should be treated as though it poses a carcinogenic risk to humans and should be reduced to the lowest feasible level. This report reviews information on the epidemiologic evaluation of health effects which...