Preliminary Risk Assessment Posed by Formaldehyde Residues in Clothing to Vietnamese Consumers

Van Nam Thai, Akihiro Tokai

Osaka University, Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering, Yamadaoka 2?1, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan..
Osaka University, Division of Sustainable Energy and Environmental Engineering, Yamadaoka 2?1, Suita, Osaka, Japan..

DOI: 10.4236/jep.2011.24042                

Abstract

The assessment of potential health risks posed by formaldehyde in clothing to consumers is of increasing concern worldwide. Because of this, it is necessary to develop an exposure model that can realistically mimic clothes wearing conditions. This study aims to preliminarily develop a health risk assessment model for formaldehyde in clothing, and then to assess the potential health risk posed by formaldehyde in textiles to adults and infants in Vietnam using the model. Finally, this study aims to examine the plausibility of the adopted permissible values for formaldehyde in cloth- ing in Vietnam. In the model, two exposure factors for dermal exposure and overall exposure routes, i.e. sweat type and perspiration area, were considered. The margins of exposure (MOE) were calculated to estimate the health risks from worst case and average exposures. The assessment shows that acute exposure via inhalation can pose health risks to Vietnamese consumers in both cases. In regards to chronic exposure, dermal exposure is about four (for infants) and seven (for adults) times higher than exposure via inhalation, but no risks were found for average exposure. If a MOE of 100 is defined as ‘safe’ used, dermal and total chronic exposure to worst case cause potential risks, whereas no health risks were found for exposure to average case. With the model, the adopted Vietnamese permissible values for formaldehyde in clothing were assessed as not posing a health risk to Vietnamese consumers, hence they are accepted.

Keywords

Formaldehyde, Health Risk, Exposure Model, Clothing, Vietnamese Consumers

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Formaldehyde Council, Formaldehyde: Facts and Background Information, November, 2007. Internet available: http://www.formaldehyde.org/_base/pdf/fact_sheets/11_01_07 FormadehydeFactsandBackgroundInformation.pdf
[2]	New Zealand Ministry of Consumer Affairs, “Evaluation of Alleged Unacceptable Formaldehyde Levels in Clothing”, 2007.
[3]	European Commission (EC), “European Survey on the Release of Formaldehyde from Textiles”, 2007.
[4]	C. D. G. Anton et al, “Formaldehyde-releasers: relationship to formaldehyde contact allergy. Formaldehyde- releasers in cloths: durable press chemical finishes?Part 1,” Contact Der-matitis Vol. 62, 2010, pp. 257-271.
[5]	United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), “Formaldehyde in Textiles”, Report to Congressional Commit-tees, 2010.
[6]	Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trading, “the Contempo-rary Regulation of Limits of Formaldehyde and Aromatic Amines Releasing from Dyes in Import Textiles”, November, 2009.
[7]	A. J. Scheman, P. A. Carroll, K. H. Brown, and A. H. Osburn, “Formaldehyde-related textile allergy: an update”, Contact Dermatitis, Vol. 38, 1998, pp. 332-336.
[8]	L. H. Paul et al., Survey and Health Assessment of Chemical Substances in Hobby Products for Children. Survey of chemi-cal substances in consumer product, No. 93, 2008.
[9]	EU Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Introduction to the Problems Surrounding Garment Textiles, June, 2007.
[10]	The Danish EPA, Surveys on Chemicals in Consumer Products. Screening for Health Effects from Chemical Substances in Tex-tile Colorants, Survey No. 57, 2005.
[11]	EC, Technical Guidance Document on Risk Assessment in Support of Directive 93/67/EEC on Risk Assessment for New Notified, European, 2003.
[12]	Human and Environmental Risk Assessment (HERA), Ester-quats – Human Health Risk Assessment Report, November, 2009.
[13]	VietChina Business (assessed August 2010) http://www.vietchinabusiness.vn/i-sng/tieu-im/15213-vai-nhiem-doc-vao-viet-nam
[14]	V. N. Thai, A. Tokai, and D. T. Nguyen, Eco-labeling criteria for textile products with the support of textile flows: A case study of the Vietnamese textile industry. Journal of Sustainable Energy & Environment. [In reviewing]
[15]	WHO, The table of height and weight of under-5-year-old chil-dren, 2008 (in Vietnamese) http://www.choicungbe.com/tre-thong-minh/bang-chieu-cao-va-can-nang-chuan-o-tre-duoi- 5-tuoi.ccb Vietnam National Institute of Physical Science, Survey of the height of Vietnamese people, 2010.
[16]	M.C. Ryan et al., Diagnosis and treatment of dermatitis due to formaldehyde resins in clothing, American Contact Dermatitis Society, 15(4) (2004), pp. 169-175.
[17]	B. Mathieu et al., Proportion of skin surface of children and young infants from 2 to 18 years old, Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 128 (2008), pp. 461-464.
[18]	T.H. Dinh, Current status of existing condominium buildings in Vietnam: Common problems, main causes and proposed main-tenance strategies. International conference on sustainable architectural design and urban planning, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2007.
[19]	R. Raghunath et al., Retention times of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn in children’s blood, The Science of the Total Environment 207 (1997), pp. 133-139.
[20]	U. S. Department of Energy, Guidance for Conducting Risk Assessment and Related Risk Activities for DOE– ORO Envi-ronmental Management, DOE/BJC/OR–271, 1999. http://risk.lsd.ornl.gov/homepage/bjc_or–271.pdf
[21]	Y. Shin, D. Lee, D. Won, and H. Lim, Risk Management of Hazardous Chemicals Considering Interaction between Indoor and Outdoor Rources, Korea Environment Institute, 2007.
[22]	Everyday tips and thoughts, Make sure you wash those clothes after you buy them and before you wear them (accessed Octo-ber 2010).
[23]	http://everydaytipsandthoughts.com/health-and-fitness/make-sure-you-wash-those-clothes-after-you-buy-them-and-before-you -wear-them/
[24]	H. Jill, Wash clothes before you wear them, Fashion, Science & Tech (accessed October 2010). http://www.neatorama.com/2010/01/21/wash-clothes-before-you-wear-them/
[25]	World Health Organization, Formaldehyde, Concise In- terna-tional Chemical Assessment Document 40, 2002.
[26]	H. Stefan et al., Consumer Exposure to Biocides–identi- fica-tion of Relevant Sources and Evaluation of Possible Health Effects. Environmental Health 9:7 (2010).
[27]	L. S. Ellebak et al., Survey of Chemicals in Consumer Products, Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy, No. 23, 2003.
[28]	K. B. Rumchev, J. T. Speckett, M. K. Bulsara, M. R. Phillips, and S. M. Stick, Domestic exposure to formaldehyde signifi-cantly increases the risk of asthma in young children, European Respiratory Journal 20 (2002), pp. 403-408.
[29]	Chemical Safety Information from Intergovernmental Organi-zations, Environment Health Criteria 89– Formaldehyde (ac-cessed November 2010).http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc89.htm
[30]	National Institute for Public Health and Environment, Allergens in consumer products, RIVM Report 320025001/2008, 2008.
[31]	M. H. Sherman and A. T. Hodgson, Formaldehyde as a Basis for Residential Ventilation Rates, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Canada, 2002.
[32]	S. Hahn et al., Health Risks from Biocide-containing Products and Articles of Daily Use, Final Report Research Project 204 61 218/05 on behalf of the German Federal Environmental Agency, 2005.
[33]	M. P. Van Veen, J. G. M. van Engelen, and M. T. M. van Raaij, Crossing the river stone by stone: approaches for residential risk assessment for consumers, Annual Occupational Hygiene 45 (2000), pp. 107-118.
[34]	WHO, Assessing Human Health Risks of Chemicals: Derivation of Guidance Values for Health-based Exposure Limits, EHC 170 World Health Organization, Geneva, 1994. http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc170.htm.