Formaldehyde textile workers

The National Occupational Exposure Survey (NOES), conducted from 1981 to 1983, indicated that 1,329,332 workers employed in various professions were potentially exposed to formaldehyde in the United States (NIOSH 1995b). The NOES database does not contain information on the frequency, concentration, or duration of exposure the survey provides only estimates of workers potentially exposed to the chemical in the workplace. OSHA has estimated that in the late 1980s over 2 million workers in over 112,000 firms were exposed to formaldehyde about 45% of these workers are estimated to be in the garment industry. About 1.9 million were exposed to levels of formaldehyde between 0.1 ppm and 0.5 ppm (mainly in apparel, furniture, paper mills, and plastic molding) approximately 123,000 were exposed to levels of formaldehyde between 0.5 and 0.75 ppm (mainly in apparel, textile finishing, furniture, laboratories, and foundries) and about 84,000 were exposed to between 0.75 and 1 ppm (mainly in apparel, furniture, and foundries) (OSHA 1996). 

However, concerns arose regarding the health and safety of formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a volatile organic compound (VOC). Exposure to formaldehyde happens mainly through inhalation, but ean also occur by absorption through the skin. Workers may be exposed during direct production, treatment of materials, and production of resins. Consumers may be exposed to formaldehyde through easy-care textiles. 

Urea-formaldehyde resin and melamine-formalde-hyde resin are used as glues in the wood industries to make furniture press plates. Despite a low constant release of formaldehyde from these plates into the indoor air, the health effect for individuals living or working in the room is way overestimated in our opinion. Construction workers are also exposed to formaldehyde resins in modern building materials. Textile finishes are another use for these formaldehyde resins, but this does not fit into our discussion in this chapter (Fowler et al. 1992). Even cosmetics may contain PTBP-FR as Angelini and others have shown previously (Angelini et al. 1993). Both resins are currently available from Chemotechnique, Sweden, urea-FR as a 10% petrolatum and melamine-FR as a 7% preparation in the textile colour and finishes series. 

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