EPA Proposes Rules to Protect Against Formaldehyde Exposure

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed two rules to help protect Americans from exposure to the harmful chemical formaldehyde. 

Formaldehyde is commonly known as a preservative for scientific specimens, but it has a wide variety of other uses, including in adhesives and resins for composite wood products—such as hardwood plywood, particleboard, and medium-density fiberboard—from which formaldehyde may escape.  The released formaldehyde may be left over from the resin or composite wood making process or when the resin degrades from heat and humidity. 

Exposure to formaldehyde can cause adverse health effects including eye, nose and throat irritation, other respiratory symptoms and, in certain cases, cancer.  The State of California has designated formaldehyde as  a chemical known to cause cancer, meaning that companies offering products for sale in California that contain formaldehyde must first provide a health hazard warning.  California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the agency responsible for implementing Proposition 65,  uses federal assessments, such as those from the EPA, to determine “safe harbor” levels for harmful chemicals, which are maximum amounts of a chemical deemed small enough to have no observable effect, and/or  pose no significant risk, on a person .  Exposures to an amount of a chemical that is less than the “safe harbor” level do not need to be accompanied by a health hazard warning.

EPA's first proposal would limit how much formaldehyde may be emitted from hardwood plywood, medium-density fiberboard, particleboard and finished goods, that are sold, supplied, offered for sale, manufactured, or imported in the United States.  The proposal includes testing requirements, laminated product provisions, product labeling requirements, chain of custody documentation, recordkeeping, a stockpiling prohibition, and enforcement provisions. It also includes a common-sense exemption from some testing and record-keeping requirements for products made with no-added formaldehyde resins.

The second proposal would establish a third-party certification framework designed to ensure that manufacturers of composite wood products meet federal formaldehyde emission standards by having their products certified though an accredited third-party certifier. It would also establish eligibility requirements and responsibilities for third-party certifiers and the EPA-recognized accreditation bodies who would accredit them.

The Chanler Group represents citizen enforcers who, acting in the public interest, commence actions against businesses offering products for sale in California that contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm without first providing the health hazard warning required by Proposition 65. Citizen enforcers bringing Proposition 65 actions in the public interest may obtain a Court Judgment imposing civil penalties, an injunction requiring reformulation of products, and/or provision of health hazard warnings. The Chanler Group has represented citizen enforcers of Proposition 65 for more than twenty years.