Good for a (hearty) laugh

My contractor is also having trouble locating an outfit that makes formaldehyde-free doors. (I'm not sure why--I located a number of companies, including VT Industries, that make formaldehyde-free, agrifiber core doors. I got some information back that one company this guy's door man works with offered a formaldehyde-free door with "low emission levels". That's obviously too vague for me. So in researching, just out of curiosity, OSHA's acceptable level of formaldehyde emission, I came across a highly amusing website from a company named Hexion Speciality Chemicals touting its "Ecobind Resin". Actually, as I continued to read, I became less amused and more disturbed. Their little FAQ on formaldehyde is riddled with inaccuracies and bald misstatements.

Here's how it starts (and it gets even better): "Do emissions from modern building products manufactured with formaldehyde-based resins pose a health risk? No."

This is an interesting assertion in itself, considering the thousands of FEMA evacuees who are contemplating or have initiated litigation against FEMA due to the high levels of formaldehyde in the particleboard and plywood the trailers are constructed from. They became violently ill--but I'm sure that all of these folks got ill from something other than the formaldehyde in the resins.

Another ridiculous leap this company makes in defending formaldehyde is contending that all wood contains formaldehyde, even the bark of living trees. And so, they continue, a forest must be even worse for you than particleboard! Right?! Make sure not to live in a forest, folks! It'd be worse than living in a FEMA trailer! This misinformation borders on disgusting. I won't even take the time to talk about the company's ridiculous and vague assertion that "current indoor and air quality studies show" that formaldehyde emissions are not a problem in new construction.

But the copy I find most offensive is the following: "Fact #5: Numerous government agencies, whose missions are to protect people, have put standards in place which today’s wood products meet or exceed." What offends me is the parenthetical "whose missions are to protect people." This creates in an uninformed reader's mind the belief that these government agencies are 1.) fully-staffed and able to test and research every harmful product on the market 2.) able to regulate the sale and use of these products rather than simply make recommendations and 3.) That the agencies cited (OSHA, EPA, and my favorite, the CSPC a.k.a. the Consumer Products Safety Commission who currently has one man testing all toys imported into this country) actually don't protect people. The current fiasco in New Orleans and Mississippi is proof of this.

For anyone interested in reading this bizarre and somewhat ham-handed attempt to defend formaldehyde, the link can be found here.