Why measure formaldehyde?
Formaldehyde causes cancer in people at high doses. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) considers formaldehyde to be a potential occupational carcinogen as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) carcinogen policy [29 CFR 1990]. NIOSH considers short-term exposures safe at levels up to 0.016 parts per million (ppm) for 8 hours, or 0.1 ppm for 15? minutes. There are no U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for formaldehyde in the air outside. In most cities, it is found in the air in low amounts. In rural areas, it’s probably about 0.0002 ppm; in the suburbs, about 0.002 ppm; in big cities, up to 0.02 ppm. Often there is more formaldehyde inside buildings than outside because of its use in plywood, particleboard, new carpets, new paints, and fingernail polish. Along the fenceline of the ConocoPhillips-Rodeo refinery, it has not been detected by the monitors yet (as of summer 2002).
