SEVILLA, Laurence Gretsch C.

2008-18368
Warming our homes with poison: Ecotoxicity and
health hazards of urea formaldehyde wall insulation
Abstract
Since its discovery, wall insulations have
been used by man to provide him with
protection against the elements. Wall
insulations are made of polymers, and the
different kinds use varying compounds in
their solutions. Of utmost concern is the
urea formaldehyde wall insulation.
Because of the presence of formaldehyde,
a compound considered to be toxic to
humans, this kind of wall insulation
presents a threat to anyone who lives in
homes where the insulation is the said
material. The review paper aims to explain
the most common wall insulations used,
how formaldehyde is toxic to both man
and the environment and how it can also
affect society. The review also concludes
that urea formaldehyde wall insulation
should be scrapped and alternatives be
used instead.
Keywords Wall insulation, Urea
formaldehyde, Formaldehyde toxicity
1 Introduction
Since the start of time, one of the greatest
necessities of man has been shelter. He
would spend his entire life moving from
cave to cave, looking for the perfect
location where he could survive and
thrive. Before humans learned to control
fire for warmth and protection from the
harsh elements of the early earth, there
was a need to ensure that a dwelling
place would provide the heat necessary
for man to go about his business with
ease and comfort. Thousands of years
later, this need still exists. Even with the
invention of gas and electric heaters, other
homes which could not afford these
services needed a way to ensure that their
homes would protect them from the
environment.
Wall insulation, discovered in 1972, was
used to satisfy this need. The principle is
simple: The insulating material is merely
placed in the hollow middle portion of a
wall. The effect is that the house will stay
warm in winter, and will not be too hot
during summer.
The process of insulating a house requires
a couple of simple steps. First, holes are
drilled into the wall where the insulating
material is to be poured. The industry
standard is to drill them each with a
diameter of one and a half inches. The
insulating material, a polymer foam, is
then poured in the wall through the holes
with compressed air. The holes are then
plugged, patched, and the whole wall
repainted to cover the marks. The result is
a wall filled with the polymer material
which will control the temperature inside
the house.
The physics behind this is simple. Without
insulating materials in it, a wall is usually
hollow. Between the two slabs of concrete,
the outside wall and the inside wall, air is
trapped in a cavity. Air, being fluid by
nature, can serve to transfer heat through
convection. When warm air hits the outer
wall, this wall consequently warms up.
The air molecules in the cavity bouncing
on the outer wall will then acquire some of
the heat from it. When this molecule hits
the inner wall, it will transfer heat to the
cooler inner wall, as explained by the laws
of thermodynamics. It follows the same
principle for cool air blowing on the outer
wall, except heat is moved from the inner
wall to the outer wall. When the insulating
polymer foam is poured into the cavity, the
cavity air is displaced and replaced by an
insulating material with air trapped in it.
The result is that heat can no longer be
transferred through convection because
the cavity air has been replaced by foam.
Conduction is also very poor because
both the polymer and the trapped air in the
foam are good insulators. This can be
illustrated by a polystyrene cup full of hot
coffee. The outside of the cup is cool
enough to pick up although the inside is
hot. The walls are then more efficient in
maintaining the internal ambient
temperature at a desirable level.
Common types of wall insulation materials
used are polystyrene, polyurethane and
urea formaldehyde. Polystyrene is an
aromatic polymer made from a chain of
styrene molecules. It was first discovered
by a German apothecary named Eduard
Simon in 1839, but was officially identified
in 1922 as a polymer by the German
chemist Hermann Staudinger. It is highly
amorphous (atactic), and has a melting
temperature of 270 C. It is normally used
to insulate greenhouses. Polyurethane is
composed of a diisocyanate monomer and
a diol monomer linked together. It was
discovered and developed by another
German chemist named Dr. Otto Bayer. It
follows the polyaddition principle to
produce the polymer from liquid
diisocyanates and from liquid polyester
diols. Like polystyrene, it is also an
elastomer. It is used to insulate walls,
temperature-controlled vehicles and
consumer coolers. The last compound,
urea formaldehyde, another elastomer, is
made by heating urea and formaldehyde
in the presence of a mild base such as
ammonia or pyridine. It has useful
properties such as high tensile strength,
heat distortion temperature, low water
absorption, mold shrinkage, high surface
hardness and volume resistance. Because
of these properties, it is used everywhere
and in many manufacturing processes,
including laminates, textiles, paper, rayon,
casings of some electrical appliances, and
of course, as wall insulation.
Being chemical compounds, the question
of their toxicity still stands. Polyurethane
foam is fully cured before construction.
Toxicity only occurs during manufacture
and curing (Harris, Rumack and Aldrich,
1981). However, it is a very combustible
solid and can ignite when exposed to an
open flame. At 240 C, the integrity of the
compound begins to weaken, and it also
starts releasing toxic isocyanates such as
cyanide (CN), hydrogen cyanide (HCN),
cyanic acid (HCNO), nitrous oxide (N2O),
and carbon dioxide (CO2). These air
contaminants may cause lung damage
and/or interfere with cellular respiration
(NSSGA, 2004). Fortunately, these gases
are not released unless high temperatures
are reached, because polyurethane is
inert.
In direct contrast, urea formaldehyde is
indefinitely toxic. Starting from its
manufacture to its use in construction, it
already emits toxic particles in the air.
Urea formaldehyde wall insulation
releases formalin gas while it is being
cured, but also, and in larger amounts,
when the foam loses its integrity and
begins to break down. This causes
problems with the indoor air quality, and
can also lead to various illnesses related
to formalin exposure.
2 Release of formaldehyde gas from
wall insulation
Toxic formaldehyde is released from the
wall insulation because of the nature of
urea formaldehyde, and because of the
way that the insulation is created.
Because of the nature of formaldehyde, its
natural state in room temperature is a gas.
It is mixed with urea to make sure that it
stays in its solid form. However, the
chemical bonds between urea and
formaldehyde are weak, which results in
the degradation of the foam cells over
time, and the subsequent emission of
formaldehyde gas into the home. Another
cause of formaldehyde emission from the
wall insulations is the excessive amounts
of formaldehyde in the material. In order to
ensure that all of the urea is used up,
excess formaldehyde is added to the
solution. The unreacted formaldehyde
then escapes as gas.
3 Illnesses related to formaldehyde
exposure
Rhinitis
Formaldehyde exposure has been shown
to cause transient symptoms of rhinitis
and prolonged changes in nasal washings
(Pazdrak et al., 1993). This is possible
because formaldehyde is considered to be
an allergen and frequent and/or prolonged
exposure to it can cause allergic rhinitis in
some people. The early phase of the
reaction begins minutes after exposure
causing vasodilation, increase vascular
permeability, production of nasal
secretions, rhinorrhea, itching, sneezing,
nasal obstruction. The late phase of the
reaction occurs 48 hours after exposure
and mainly causes nasal congestion
(Hansen et al., 2004).
Damage to pulmonary function
Exposure to high levels of formalin has
also been shown to result in significant
damage to pulmonary function, resulting in
both reduced maximum mid-expiratory
flow and forced vital capacity. A recent
documented study has also shown that
formaldehyde exposure can cause
coughs, dyspnea and wheezing, with
prevalent ronci and bilateral infiltrate, as
shown on a chest x-ray. This particular
case was the first case where exposure to
formaldehyde was shown to cause
pneumonitis, suggesting the effects of
formalin in healthy human airways
(Baccioglu and Kalpaklioglu, 2007).
Asthma
Although the correlation between
formaldehyde and asthma in adults have
been met with differing results
(Wieslander et al., 1997) (Krzyzanowski et
al., 1990). Another recent study has
shown that there is a significant positive
association between formaldehyde
exposure and childhood asthma. Several
mechanisms have already been identified
that provide plausible connections
between formaldehyde exposure and
airways disease. Formaldehyde is a well-
recognized irritant affecting multiple
tissues; it has been demonstrated to
provoke transient decline in pulmonary
function (Paustenbach et al.
1997). Formaldehyde, being a small
molecules, may associate with larger
protein molecules to create new antigenic
moieties. This could provoke the formation
of antibodies than could bind to mast cells,
and upon re-exposure to the toxic
compound, could lead to mast cell
degranulation and the elaboration of
mediators traditionally associated with the
asthmatic response. Also, formaldehyde
has been shown to alter thiol biology,
leading to the accelerated reduction of the
endogenous bronchodilator S-
nitrosoglutathione, thus providing another
putative mechanistic link between
formaldehyde exposure and airway
disease (McGwin, Liener, and Kennedy,
2010).
Cancer
Perhaps of the utmost concern regarding
formaldehyde exposure is that it is
considered by the U.S. EPA and the WHO
International Agency for Research on
Cancer as a known human carcinogen
associated with nasal sinus cancer and
nasopharyngeal cancer. Other studies
have also shows a positive correlation
between formaldehyde exposure and the
development of myeloid leukemia. A
possible mechanism is 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 (Zhang et al.,
2009). Also, formaldehyde has been
shown to cause gene mutations such as
single strand breaks in DNA, DNA-protein
crosslinks, sister chromatid exchanges
and chromosomal aberrations, which
could all result in cancer.
Aside from the cancers mentioned above,
formaldehyde exposure can also
contribute to UV-induced skin
carcinogenesis. It has been shown that
after exposure to formaldehyde, single
strand breaks are not corrected properly,
which points to a delay in DNA
resynthesis/ligation. Formaldehyde is
known to inhibit different DNA repair
pathways. (Emri et al., 2004).
4 Population risks
The people who are at risk of constant
formaldehyde exposure are the people
who either work with these chemicals
(occupational), or those who live in homes
with objects made with or containing
formaldehyde (residential). In the case of
this study, the source of the gas is
assumed to be from urea formaldehyde
wall insulation. Occupational risks are
reduced because there are certain
protocols to be followed in the handling of
these dangerous chemicals. People who
are exposed to it daily, however, without
any protection, such as those living in the
said homes, are in danger of developing
the various illnesses mentioned above.
5 Effects of formaldehyde on the
ecosystem
Aside from the numerous negative effects
on humans, formaldehyde also has a
negative impact on the ecosystem.
Formaldehyde is a fairly soluble
compound in water. If enough of the gas is
present near bodies of water, it will be
dissolved in it. This could lead to problems
with aquatic ecosystems, because a lot of
aquatic species are negatively affected by
formaldehyde. Affected species include
bacteria, algae and crustaceans. Death of
these organisms could severely impact
the balance in the ecosystem and could
result in the death of other species as well
(Tisler and Zagorc-Koncan, 1996). Other
organisms such as land animals that use
the polluted water supplies could also be
negatively affected in the same way as
humans, because formaldehyde is also
toxic to other animals.
5 Conclusion
Urea formaldehyde wall insulation is
dangerous both to man and the
environment. It can affect man in drastic
ways, which hurts not only him but the
economy as well, with the state ending up
losing thousands of pesos due to
unproductivity of said affected workers.
Because this phenomenon takes place at
the home setting, it results in an unhealthy
environment for people to live in, which
could result in various problems not only
concerning the various illnesses
mentioned above, but including other
complications which could be considered
as secondary effects brought about by
excessive formaldehyde exposure.
6 Recommendation
It is recommended that the government
take drastic measures to ensure the
banning of the use of the said materials to
provide wall insulation. Other alternative
and practical types of wall insulation exist
that could be substituted for urea
formaldehyde. An example is
polyurethane, which as previously stated,
is only toxic in the manufacturing stage.
However, awareness to this situation is
also necessary. People living in housing
with urea formaldehyde insulation should
be warned about the dangers that they are
exposed to.
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