Pick Your Poison- Chemicals In Everyday Life: FORMALDEHYDE - ROBINSON

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Some physical properties of FORMALDEHYDE are:

* clear & colourless

* strong smelling, pungent gas

*soluble in water at room temperature

*boiling point of 96 degrees Celsius

*melting point of -15 degrees Celsius

Some chemical properties of FORMALDEHYDE are:

* flammable (combustibility)

* highly reactive with acids

* reactive with other substances such as amonia, oxides, anhydrides

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Description of FORMALDEHYDE

Formaldehyde is a chemical used for many purposes. It has a very strong odour that may cause your eyes to burn in the process of smelling it. It is a colourless gas at room temperature and can be reactive with acids and other substances. It is used in household products as well as in the environment. It can be both harmful and useful in daily life. The chemical formula for formaldehyde is CH2O. (US National Cancer)

Common uses and products FORMALDEHYDE can be found in

There are many products Formaldehyde can be found in. Some of those include everyday household products, particleboard, plywood, fiberboard and other pressed-wood products, glues, adhesives, paper product coatings, insulation materials, fungicide, germicide and disinfectant, tobacco smoke and nail polish. It is also used as a preservative in mortuaries and medical labs. Although it is often processed in man-made products such as normal hous

e hold cleaning products, it is also found in nature. Formaldehyde is produced in small amounts by most living organisms as regular metabolic processes. (US National Cancer)

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DANGERS AND PRECAUTIONS

Although Formaldehyde can be useful for many things, there are many dangers and risks that come with a certain amount of exposure to this poison. Some of these include Formaldehyde poisoning, skin, eye and throat irritation, it can affect the upper respiratory tract, and you can even have an increased risk to getting certain cancers such as leukemia, brain cancer, hematopoietic and lymphatic, lung cancer and brain cancer. Some ways to reduce these health risks are to buy products that contain less formaldehyde such as using exterior-grade pressed wood products. Another way to reduce formaldehyde exposure is to make sure your ventilation is adequate, live in lower humidity levels and keep a moderate temperature in your home. (US National Cancer)

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TREATMENT

If you get formaldehyde poisoning, a doctor will prescribe medications and drugs to treat it. If exposure makes your eyes, throat, or skin irritated, the best thing to do is get fresh air or rinse yourself. If exposure from formaldehyde has lead to something more serious like cancer, then the patient should probably go to cancer treatments and therapies. ("Formaldehyde poisoning symptoms," )

Our opinion on whether Formaldehyde should be banned or not is clearly going to be yes, it should be banned because first of all, the health risks are too serious to be ignored and also, there are safer alternatives that can be used instead of formaldehyde in the majority of the products it's found in. Instead of risking your health by using products that we need to build or that we clean with, people can start using less harmful chemicals. Formaldehyde is more harmful than helpful when put into products, although we cannot do anything about it when it's found in nature because it isn't mixed with a bunch of other chemicals or products. Like a wild animal, we should leave formaldehyde to do it's natural processes instead of causing health problems in our homes.