Formaldehyde is used a lot in manufacturing, primarily as an adhesive or glue to bind materials like laminate wood flooring, fiber board, plywood, etc. It’s also found in high levels in carpet coatings and in cigarette smoke, fumes from fuel burning appliances, kerosene heaters. The important point, however, is that formaldehyde does release a gas into indoor areas where these materials have been used. Of late, a Lumber Liquidator’s Chinese flooring product was found to release fairly high quantities of formaldehyde and creating many health concerns.
Should you bother about formaldehyde gas in your indoor air? If you’ve had any one of that Chinese laminate flooring installed, yes. Though most of us are confronted with low quantities of formaldehyde on a regular basis, it isn’t something you want to breathe, because it doesn’t take a great deal to reach a point of toxicity. 去甲醛 And higher levels are likely to create symptoms like burning, watery eyes, irritated throat, nausea, difficulty in breathing, and new or worsened asthma attacks. Longterm, formaldehyde is recognized to cause nasopharyngeal cancer and myeloid leukemia and nobody needs that. If you have any type of laminate or hardwood flooring, I would at least test the air at home and find out what can there be or not, for your own peace of mind.
If you’re pregnant, you definitely don’t want formaldehyde or any other chemical pollutant in the air you’re breathing, and certainly not when your baby gets here. Formaldehyde gas has been connected to various birth defects, brain damage, deformities, and more. It really isn’t good to breathe, period. Air quality during pregnancy is vital, and some say almost as important as your diet. Great care should be studied to make sure than your indoor air is really as clean as you possibly can, using the best home air filtration systems you’ll find with substantial activated carbon filters, HEPA filters, and UV if that’s an option. The UV light is excellent for destroying airborne bacteria, mold spores, viruses and VOC’s (volatile organic chemicals) in the air that subscribe to odors along with a variety of unpleasant health effects.
How to proceed: it is simple to use a formaldehyde gas detection kit to learn if you have any one of that pollutant floating around in your home. A good brand is BHC and it’s under $100. Or, (and this is recommended if you’re pregnant) you should buy an air cleanser that’s effective at removing gases like formaldehyde, particles, dust mites, VOC’s, etc. An excellent air cleanser for this purpose is the Austin HealthMate Plus. It includes a significant level of quality carbon, it’s designed to eliminate chemicals like formaldehyde and others, along with a medical grade HEPA filter, great warranty, handles 1500 square feet and it’s under $650.
Regardless, if you think you might have formaldehyde at home or even if you’re uncertain, at least purchase a test kit and find out. You don’t wish to end up with problems later on out of this chemical, and it’s demonstrated to cause issues. In the event that you did have Chinese laminate flooring installed like the type from Lumber Liquidators, definitely consider getting an air filtration system to protect your health. There also seems to be always a class-action suit going on with this, so you might want to consult an attorney to learn what your options are.