February 29, 2016
By Jacob Bogage
A week ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had revised its earlier analysis of the suspect flooring and found a heightened risk of cancer. The CDC said its models suggested the formaldehyde could cause respiratory issues for people with asthma and could cause anyone eye, nose and throat irritation.
A “60 Minutes” investigation a year ago took aim at the makeup of the flooring and spurred regulators to dig deeper. Lumber Liquidators suspended its sale of Chinese-made laminates after the investigation aired, and the chief executive at the time, Robert M. Lynch, stepped down in May....
MONDAY, JUNE 13, 2011
By Paul Pestano, Research Analyst
After decades of debate, (click here) the Obama administration last week classified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen, a label that is likely to advance regulatory steps to restrict this widely used hazardous chemical. The move came as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the long-awaited 12th Report on Carcinogens, a Congressionally mandated report assembled by the National Toxicology Program of the National Institutes of Health.
The new report highlights animal and human studies that have produced evidence associating formaldehyde with an increased risk of nasopharyngeal and sinonasal cancers and myeloid leukemia. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, classified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen in 2006.
The Environmental Protection Agency has expressed concern about formaldehyde's cancer-causing potential for many years but is still embroiled in a lengthy review process to determine whether EPA should declare categorically that the chemical causes cancer in humans.
That may change now that the federal government's scientific community has taken a definitive position with the publication of the 12th Report on Carcinogens....
