Many environmental protections are now in the process of being rolled back in the United States, including those for formaldehyde. This is a huge win for the chemical industry (more profits!), and a loss for us. For our health and for the environment.
Formaldehyde is used in many consumer products, such as personal care products, paints, crafting products, particle board, composite wood (e.g., furniture, cabinets), textiles, plastics, furniture foam. The problem is that it out-gasses and we inhale it, which can lead to health harms, such as effects on the skin and respiratory system and several types of cancers. Formaldehyde causes more cancer than any other chemical in the air.
The EPA is now proposing raising levels of formaldehyde that are "safe" for us to be exposed to. It wants to double the allowable threshold levels! The EPA sets standards for chemicals that say that any level of exposure below that threshold is considered safe. Therefore, levels of exposure to formaldehyde that are now considered a cancer risk will not be if the changes are approved.
Why these rollbacks? Chemical industry friendly people are now in charge of the EPA (top staffers are from the chemical industry) and the new focus is on economic development, prioritizing business interests, and not protecting human health and the environment. Of course research scientists and research are being thrown out.
Excerpts from The Guardian: Trump’s EPA wants to weaken formaldehyde protections – this is what it could mean
Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to increase the levels of exposure to highly carcinogenic formaldehyde it considers safe. If successful, people would continue to be exposed to concerning amounts of the toxin in thousands of everyday products used across the economy, experts and advocates say.
Formaldehyde, a pungent colorless gas at room temperature, is found in a range of cosmetics, personal care products, home cleaners, craft supplies, leather goods, furniture, clothing, plastic, building materials and other everyday goods. During Joe Biden’s term, EPA scientists took a major step toward reining in the broad societal risk by issuing a finding that any level of exposure to formaldehyde can cause cancer, and very low levels cause non-cancer health harms.
Chemical makers, who typically produce up to 5bn pounds of formaldehyde annually in the US, strongly opposed the Biden-era risk assessments’ findings. The very industry leaders involved in the charge against the EPA’s formaldehyde assessments in recent years were appointed this year by the Trump administration to run the relevant parts of the agency – and now they are attacking the science from the inside.
The proposed changes represent a scenario that many public health advocates feared if Trump handed over the EPA to industry. In the simplest terms, the changes would maintain industry profits while rolling back efforts to better protect people’s health.
“When you have chemicals that are this ubiquitous and this toxic, they really call out for strong regulations,” said Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, an attorney with Earthjustice, which litigates on toxic chemical issues. “You really need the government to do its job and provide protections.”
Aside from being a known carcinogen, formaldehyde is linked to respiratory issues, miscarriage and fertility problems.
Formaldehyde is ubiquitous in consumer goods in part because it is versatile. Companies add it to cosmetics, personal care products, paints and crafting products because it’s an effective preservative. It is also commonly added as a binder to composite wood, like particle board, that is used to make furniture, cabinets and other home goods. Bamboo products, including cutting boards, are often bound with formaldehyde glue.
Because formaldehyde off-gasses from products to which it is added, inhalation of the chemical is considered the biggest risk. The risk assessments from both Biden and Trump’s teams focused on inhalation.
Regulations around toxic chemicals contain a major flaw, in that they do not consider the cumulative exposure to substances. For example, if regulators are considering the risk in formaldehyde in makeup, they don’t evaluate how the levels are compounded by formaldehyde that may also be in a desk, car interior or other products that people may also be exposed to during the day.
The move is part of a broader effort to weaken risk assessments around toxic chemicals, and industry for decades has waged war against stricter regulations around formaldehyde.
The EPA and its chemical safety office is helmed by two former executives from the American Chemistry Council, a trade group that represents nearly 200 of the nation’s top chemical makers and has welcomed the agency’s new stance.
From the investigative journalism site Propublica: Under Former Chemical Industry Insiders, Trump EPA Nearly Doubles Amount of Formaldehyde Considered Safe to Inhale