What is 'formaldehyde'?
Formaldehyde is used in many industrial applications. It is actually used in glue. It's part of the glue that presses wood together, so whenever you buy furniture ... let's say your average kitchen cabinet ... there's probably a part of it that's solid, hard wood and then the shelves or the backing is usually made out of much cheaper pressed wood materials. That has formaldehyde resin in it. So a new kitchen will have lots of formaldehyde that could be emerging or vaporizing out of the shelving and filling up your indoor air with levels of formaldehyde that may be irritating, that may induce an asthmatic reaction in susceptible people, and that formaldehyde is also a carcinogen. We know about formaldehyde's cancer-causing problems from embalmers. People that were working with cadavers tended to get nasal cancer. And we know in animal studies that formaldehyde is a carcinogen, as well. So, the less exposure to formaldehyde, the better. So, if you're redoing your kitchen, for example, redo it in the summertime when you can have open windows, lots of fresh air, higher temperatures will tend to bake it out and get it out of your house sooner, dry weather days are better than moist conditions to get these gases out of your products.
