By Jonathan Tilove
June 01, 2010
WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency will release on Wednesday its draft assessment of the human health effects of formaldehyde, opening a 90-day public comment period.
The assessment will help EPA and others to determine the potential toxicity of being exposed to and inhaling formaldehyde, which is found in many consumer products. Concerns about formaldehyde exposure grew dramatically in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when many people living in FEMA trailers after the storm reported respiratory and other health problems from prolonged exposure to formaldehyde.
The EPA draft, which will be published in Wednesday’s Federal Register, is also being peer reviewed by an expert panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences, which will have nine months to return its evaluation of the draft to EPA.
The National Academy panel will hold its first meeting on Monday in Washington. It is open to the public. The panel is chaired by Jonathan Samet, a pulmonary physician and epidemiologist, who is a professor at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. The vice chair is Andrew Olshan, chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.
How Senator Vitter Battled the EPA Over Formaldehyde’s Link to Cancer
Toxic Trailors.com – Toxic Court (Louisiana) stacks deck against formaldehyde victims
The high cost of FEMA’s learning curve
Children from FEMA Trailers Battle Serious Health Problems
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) confirms link between formaldehyde and leukemia
TRUTH OUT Sharon Kramer Letter To Andrew Saxon MOLD ISSUE
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Truth About Mold – the most up to date, accurate, and reliable information on Toxic Mold
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“Changes in construction methods have caused US buildings to become perfect petri dishes for mold and bacteria to flourish when water is added. Instead of warning the public and teaching physicians that the buildings were causing illness; in 2003 the US Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, a think-tank, and a workers comp physician trade organization mass marketed an unscientific nonsequitor to the courts to disclaim the adverse health effects to stave off liability for financial stakeholders of moldy buildings. Although publicly exposed many times over the years, the deceit lingers in US courts to this very day.” Sharon Noonan Kramer
Katy's Exposure 
Thank you for this. I saw that you posted an item about CNN”s “Toxic America” special, too, so you probably saw the CNN story about formaldehyde being one of the five chemicals that are everywhere.
Here’s a link to the text version of the Federal Register notice, Draft Toxicological Review of Formaldehyde In Support of Summary Information on the Integrated Risk Information System. The actual document is at http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/iris_drafts/recordisplay.cfm?deid=223614.
To make a comment on the document it looks like you will need to go to Regulations.gov and use Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2010-0396 to look up the actual document.
I’ve posted numerous blog entries about chemical exposure on my blog starting with a post about the CDC Fourth National Report on Human Exposure.
Thank you for highlighting all of these environmental health issues.