What is Formaldehyde?

A Dangerous toxic chemical that is horrible for the air.

We used to sleep on bed mattresses made of more or less natural untreated stuff. But now, they tell you that you ain’t cool, man, if you do not have a visco-elastic polyurethane foam (also called memory foam) mattress.

They say this is the technological revolution in your bed, the Star Trek dream in your bedroom and the idea of the rigid mattresses is just a prejudice. It is being strongly advertised that the memory foam will remove your back, neck and articulation pains.

Formaldehyde is quickly broken down in the air – generally within hours. It dissolves easily in water, but does not last long there, either.

When dissolved in water it is called formalin, which is commonly used as an industrial disinfectant, and as a preservative in funeral homes and medical labs. It can also be used as a preservative in some foods and in products, such as antiseptics, medicines, and cosmetics. Sometimes, although formaldehyde is not used, substances that release formaldehyde are. These have been found in cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, lotions and sunscreens, and cleaning products.

Formaldehyde can be added as a preservative to food, but it can also be produced as the result of cooking and smoking.

Formaldehyde also occurs naturally in the environment. Humans and most other living organisms make small amounts as part of normal metabolic processes.

Studies in the lab

In rats, inhaled formaldehyde was linked to cancers of the nasal cavity and leukemia. In one study of rats given drinking water containing formaldehyde there was an increase in stomach tumors, while another showed no increase in any kind of tumor or cancer.

In mice, applying a 10% solution of formaldehyde to the skin was linked to quicker development of cancers caused by another chemical.

Men who breathe in formaldehyde fumes as part of their jobs have triple the average risk of developing the paralyzing disease ALS, researchers reported Monday.

Funeral directors who use formaldehyde to embalm bodies may be the most at risk, the researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found.

Their findings, published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, strengthen the links between formaldehyde and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s disease. The condition, which gradually paralyzes patients by damaging their nerves, affects an estimated 30,000 Americans. It’s always fatal.