Chemical Industry Test Results Show Formaldehyde Has Caused Cancer In Lab Animals

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced that it has received test results from the chemical industry which indicate that formaldehyde has caused cancer in laboratory animals.

Representative of the Formaldehyde Institute informed CPSC staff yesterday that preliminary results of a partially completed two-year animal study of the effects of the inhalation of formaldehyde gas showed the development of squanous cell carcinoma of the nasal passages of three laboratory rats.

These tumors were visible to the naked eye within 16 months after the start of the tests, conducted for the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology (CIIT), a scientific organization supported by 36 U.S. chemical corporations.

The Formaldehyde Institute (FI) reported the preliminary CIIT results to CPSC before the conclusion and analysis of the entire two-year study because of CPSC'S know concern over the use of formaldehyde in a wide range of consumer products.

"These findings are significant," reported Dr. John Clary, Chairman of FI's medical committee. "These was a real biological effect which has to be attributed to exposure to formaldehyde."

Dr. Clary and two other FI representatives outlined the preliminary results of the study yesterday for CPSC staff and about 20 representative from other government health and safety agencies, public interest groups and private industry at Commission headquarters. Dr. Clay urged that further conclusions not be drawn until the entire CIIT test is completed in eight months and the results analyzed. The human health implications for these findings have not yet been assessed.

The lab tests are being conducted for CIIT by the Batelle Corporation in Columbus, Ohio. The three male laboratory rats developed the nasal cancer at doses of 15 parts per million (ppm) of formaldehyde heated to produce vapors. An additional female rat developed another form of external nose cancer at a dose level of 6 ppm. There have been no tumors found so far in the laboratory mice subjected to the formaldehyde gas.

CPSC is pressing its own investigation of formaldehyde on several fronts, The Commission has allocated a total of $390,000 in fiscal year 1980 to probe the acute and chronic effects on consumers.

In February, 1979, CPSC nominated formaldehyde for intensive testing by the National Toxicology Program. NTP has agreed to test formaldehyde in 1980 for its carcinogenic effects, as well as possible birth defects and genetic mutations.

The Commission also is awaiting the conclusions of a report it requested last June from the National Academy of Science on a potentially tolerable level of exposure to formaldehyde. The report is due in December, 1979.

In addition, CPSC heads a government interagency workgroup whose purpose it to coordinate effects by CPSC, OSHA, EPA, FDA, and the Agriculture Department toward potential regulation of formaldehyde.

Product and Use of Formaldehyde

CPSC has been advised that an estimated 6.4 billion pounds of formaldehyde were consumed by American industry for various products in 1978. The chemical is produced by 16 separate corporations with an estimated annual production capacity of about 9 billion pounds. These figures were provided in a report from Battlle commissioned by CPSC and received last spring.

The Battelle report indicates that approximately 25 per cent of annual formaldehyde production is used to produce urea formaldehyde resins (UF) and an additional 25 per cent used to produce phenol formaldehyde resins (PF). The primary uses of these two resins are as adhesives for particle board and plywood.

The next largest use (or about 10 per cent of annual production) is actual resins (polyformaldehyde) which are used to mold a large variety of plastic parts for automobiles, plumbing fixtures, appliances, hardware, lawn a garden and sporting equipment.

UF resins commonly have been used since the early 1960's for adhesives in particle board and medium density fiber board (for use in new home construction), accounting for about 60 per cent of total UF resin production in 1978. UF resins are favored in this use by industry since they are cheaper than alternative resins, such as PF resins.

UF resins also are used to produce UF foam insulation for homes, are used in certain paper produces, have been used to impart permanent press characteristics to cotton cloth, and as an adhesives in cloth to bind pigments and dire retardant.

The three main uses of PF resins are as an adhesive in the manufacture of plywood, as an adhesive in fibrous glass insulation, in mineral wool sound and thermal insulation, and as a plastic molding compound used to produce parts that are subject to high temperature and pressure.

Another type of formaldehyde, known as "formalin" (an aquous solution containing 37 per cent formaldehyde), is used in disinfectants, embalming fluid, textiles, leathers and dyes. About 150 million pounds are produced annually, or about 2.5 per cent of total consumption.