WHO Labels Formaldehyde a Carcinogen, EPA Allows Polluting Plywood Plants

Formaldehyde is a human carcinogen, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer. The agency upgraded its evaluation of formaldehyde from a probable carcinogen to a known one after the release of new evidence that formaldehyde causes nasopharyngeal cancer in humans. Based on studies disclosed by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in late 2003, the WHO panel also found a “strong” link between formaldehyde and leukemia but stopped short of calling it a direct causal relationship. Formaldehyde is commonly used in adhesives and binders in wood and paper products.

Meanwhile, according to a report by the Washington-based nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), the Bush Administration ignored these findings when it drafted rules exempting industrial boilers and plywood manufacturing plants from Clean Air Act regulations—formaldehyde is controlled under the Clean Air Act’s Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standard for hazardous air pollutants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that 147 of the nation’s 223 plywood plants will fall into what EPA has called the “low-risk subcategory” exemptions. EPA’s exemptions, finalized in February, are based largely on a risk model developed by the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology (CIIT) and do not take NCI’s findings into consideration. According to EIP, NCI’s study found a cancer risk 10,000 times higher than that predicted by the CIIT model as well as other health risks.