Health risks from indoor formaldehyde exposures in northwest weatherized residences

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5000923· OSTI ID:5000923

Mellinger, P J; Sever, L E

Conflicting opinions on the potential hazards associated with formaldehyde exposure triggered a national workshop to address the toxicological questions concerning the health effects of formaldehyde. Since quantitative human data are not available to derive a dose-response curve for formaldehyde risk assessment, nonhuman data are used. In the case of formaldehyde, data from animals exposed to high concentrations are used to estimate human risk at much lower concentrations. This study presents the several steps that make up a risk assessment and examines any additional data that might alter significantly the risk estimates presented in the 1984 EIS. Rat inhalation chronic bioassay data from a study sponsored by the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology (CIIT) have been used to develop a risk equation that was subsequently used by BPA in its EIS. The CIIT data base remains the only acceptable animal data that can support the estimation of a dose-response curve. The development of mathematical models continues with a great deal of energy, and the use of different models is largely responsible for the great variability of the formaldehyde risk estimates. While one can calculate different values for carcinogenic risk associated with formaldehyde exposure than were presented earlier in the BPA EIS, they are not likely to be any better.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5000923
• Report Number(s): PNL-6058; ON: DE87002134
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560306* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Man-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
ALDEHYDES
BUILDINGS
CARCINOGENESIS
FORMALDEHYDE
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PATHOGENESIS
POLLUTION
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
RISK ASSESSMENT