A danger that does not exist: a calm look at chipboard and MDF

Phenol is a poison, formaldehyde is a carcinogen, and the production of chipboard and MDF without phenol-formaldehyde resins is impossible. The trouble is, comrades, because furniture that is dangerous to health is settling in your home. Or not? Maybe everything is not as scary as they say, and there is no need to panic?

What do salt and chipboard have in common?

What happens if you combine two poisons to form a new substance? Correct: a new substance with unique properties. A clear confirmation of this is kitchen table salt, ordinary sodium chloride.

Chlorine is a toxic asphyxiating gas. Pure sodium is flammable, and as a result of its violent reaction with water, a caustic alkali is formed. But the combination of these two substances - sodium chloride - plays an important role in human life. So important that people on average consume up to five kilograms of salt per year. At the same time, no one even thinks of comparing it with chlorine or sodium - the properties are not the same.

Now let's return to formaldehyde resins. This is also a completely new substance, which is produced from toxic, flammable and carcinogenic phenol and formaldehyde. Properly cured resin is an absolutely harmless substance. The only danger is the unreacted formaldehyde residues.

It should be borne in mind that most of this carcinogen evaporates during the production of plates that undergo high-temperature treatment.Then these products undergo certification, as a result of which the emission class (emission amount) of formaldehyde is determined.

Well, the final stage of processing furniture chipboard and MDF is lamination - coating with melamine film or special varnishes, which almost completely eliminate the interaction of the board with the environment. That is, even those formaldehyde residues that are allowed by the standards are sealed inside the slab and practically do not evaporate into the atmosphere (with the exception of the open ends of the furniture). But what happens if the coating is damaged?

Danger! Natural wood!

Let's go back to the standards. For the manufacture of furniture for residential premises, it is allowed to use chipboard and MDF of class E1 and E0, and these materials are allowed even for the manufacture of children's furniture. Class E2 is not recommended for the manufacture of household furniture and is not even produced in some countries.

What do these standards mean? They indicate how much formaldehyde is contained in the finished board:

• E0 - up to 5 mg per 100g of dry slab;
• E1 - up to 10 mg per 100 g;
• E2 - from 10 to 30 mg per 100 g.

Sometimes you can find this format:

• E0 - up to 0.01 mg/m3;
• E1 - up to 0.125 mg/m3;
• E2 - from 0.125 to 1.25 mg/m3.

This is a record of the test results, during which it is determined how much formaldehyde emitted by the stove (or a product made from it) is contained in one cubic meter of air in contact with the product. When they talk about the dangers of chipboard or MDF, they rely on the second format for recording standards, because we do not eat these materials, but breathe their fumes.

And now attention - focus! What is a healthy alternative to fibreboard? Natural wood? But you guessed it wrong: some types of wood contain up to 12 mg of formaldehyde for every 100 g of material.And freshly cut oak during the drying process “fonit” 0.75 mg/m3 of formaldehyde. If this wood is heated to 40 °C, then even dry material will release 0.5 mg/m3.

This is a full emission class E2 - an unaffordable luxury for furniture manufacturers.

Conclusion: Uncoated chipboard, under equal conditions, can “fog” even less than fresh furniture made from natural wood. Well, how was the trick, was it a success? Then I suggest you enjoy one more.

And there’s nowhere to hide...

The maximum one-time maximum permissible concentration of formaldehyde in the air of populated areas, established by law, is 0.05 mg/m3. At rush hour, due to car emissions, it can be exceeded by 1.5-2 times. The average daily maximum air concentration is 0.01 mg/m3, but due to smog in large cities, this value can be exceeded.

Where to hide from the urban formaldehyde background? In the forest? Is it okay that on a warm sunny day a pine forest (again a standard of purity) can delight you with eight times the maximum permissible concentration? Although, in fairness, it should be noted that usually the air there is not so saturated with this substance. Especially after rain, which washes the carcinogen out of the atmosphere, turning it into a nutrient medium for plant roots.

How to protect yourself from formaldehyde

All of the above has only one goal - to prove that you should not blindly believe propaganda. Animals in the forest do not die or mutate. Even the birds that live in tree hollows. And modern chipboard and MDF are somewhat safer than natural wood.

If this is little consolation, then additional measures can be taken to reduce the concentration of the carcinogen in an apartment with new furniture. The most effective of them:

• regular ventilation;
• maintaining a comfortable temperature (at +20, furniture will emit light twice as weakly as at +25, and the rule also applies to the next +5);
• control of relative air humidity (with an increase from 30 to 70%, the intensity of formaldehyde release increases by approximately 40%);
• wet cleaning with thorough rinsing of the cloth used in a large amount of water;
• indoor flowers, many of which are very successful at absorbing toxins from the air.

Those who are not sure of the effectiveness of the measures taken are advised to wisely take advantage of one of the properties of formaldehyde - its good solubility in water. This feature of the carcinogen can be used in different ways. The first option is to place an aquarium with fish near the new furniture. If they are okay, you shouldn't worry either.

Well, the second option is air washing. It will recreate the effect of rain washing formaldehyde out of the atmosphere, thereby helping to reduce its concentration.