Formaldehyde is an economically important chemical, to which more than 2 million U.S. workers are occupationally exposed. Substantially more people are exposed to formaldehyde environmentally, as it is generated by automobile engines, is a component of tobacco smoke and is released from household products, including furniture, particleboard, plywood, and carpeting. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) recently classified formaldehyde as a human carcinogen that causes nasopharyngeal cancer and also concluded that there is "strong but not sufficient evidence for a causal association between leukemia and occupational exposure to formaldehyde". Here, we review the epidemiological studies published to date on formaldehyde-exposed workers and professionals in relation to lymphohematopoietic malignances. In a new meta-analysis of these studies, focusing on occupations known to have high formaldehyde exposure, we show that summary relative risks (RRs) were elevated in 15 studies of leukemia (RR=1.54; confidence interval (CI), 1.18-2.00) with the highest relative risks seen in the six studies of myeloid leukemia (RR=1.90; 95% CI, 1.31-2.76). The biological plausibility of this observed association is discussed and potential mechanisms proposed. We hypothesize that formaldehyde may act on bone marrow directly or, alternatively, may cause leukemia by damaging the hematopoietic stem or early progenitor cells that are located in the circulating blood or nasal passages, which then travel to the bone marrow and become leukemic stem cells. To test these hypotheses, we recommend that future studies apply biomarkers validated for other chemical leukemogens to the study of formaldehyde.

Formaldehyde exposure and leukemia: a new meta-analysis and potential mechanisms

Analysis of industrial contaminants in indoor air: Part 1. Volatile organic compounds, carbonyl compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls

Industrial sector-based volatile organic compound (VOC) source profiles measured in manufacturing facilities in the Pearl River Delta, China

. Carbonyl compounds are important intermediates in atmospheric photochemistry. To explore the relative contributions of primary and secondary carbonyl sources, carbonyls and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured at an urban site in both winter and summer in Beijing. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was used for source apportionment of VOCs. As VOCs undergo photochemical processes in the atmosphere, and such processes may interfere with factor identification, the relationships between the contributions of the resolved PMF factors to each non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) species and its kOH value were used to distinguish fresh factors and photochemically aged factors. As the result of PMF, five factors were resolved in winter, and two of them were identified as photochemically aged emissions. In summer, four factors were resolved, including one aged factor. Carbonyls abundances from aged factors were simulated by VOCs consumption and the corresponding carbonyl production yields, and the simulated abundances agreed well with the results obtained by the PMF model. The source apportionment results indicated that secondary formation was the major source of carbonyls in both winter and summer, with the respective contributions of 51.2% and 46.0%. For the three major carbonyl species, primary anthropogenic sources contributed 28.9% and 32.3% to ambient formaldehyde, 53.7% and 41.6% to acetaldehyde, 68.1% and 56.2% to acetone in winter and summer, respectively.

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Yoon Seo Koo

Papers

Investigation of carbonyl compounds in air from various industrial emission sources.