chemical issues and health

[snikwahpn]

So, what is formaldehyde? It is a long name for a simple chemical (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formaldehyde)--one carbon atom, two hydrogen atoms, and one oxygen atom. About the only things simpler are methane, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. This means when other more complicated chemicals break down, formaldehyde is one of the results. I had never been all that fond of diet sodas, but once I learned that when the body digests aspartame it breaks down to wood alcohol and formaldehyde, I have avoided them like the plague.

The other danger about formaldehyde is that it has what is called a "spreading effect"--it can cause you to be sensitive to other chemicals as well. And there are a lot of chemicals used in our society, not only in building products but in furnishings and even clothing. It is used in the glues that hold particleboard and interior plywood together (urea-formaldehyde resin is the base for many glues).

How does it get out of the products and into your body? Over time it migrates from the product to the air, a process called "out-gassing" that puts it into the air you breathe. The one bright spot we found was that this is not a continuous thing--it is a "half-life" situation, like radioactive materials. Half of it outgasses in the first 3-4 years, half of the rest over the next 3-4 years, and so on. After enough time passes, most of it is gone.

To be continued, when I get time.