NAS Formaldehyde Report Could Bolster Stringent EPA Risk Analysis

摘要

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in a new report is backing conclusions by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) that formaldehyde is a human carcinogen, bolstering EPA efforts to advance its stalled assessment that could drive strict new rules for energy drilling, natural gas turbines and other emissions sources. The Aug. 8 report largely endorses NTP's monograph on formaldehyde, published in its 2011 Report on Carcinogens (RoC). It agrees that formaldehyde exposure can cause myeloid leukemia, while also waving aside some of industry and other critics' longtime arguments that formaldehyde exposure is unlikely to lead to systemic cancers like leukemia. The report also finds there is "largely consistent and strong" evidence supporting a genotoxic and mutagenic biological mechanism for myeloid leukemia, a conclusion that could support an EPA decision to use a conservative linear cancer modeling approach, which assumes that there is no safe level of exposure to the chemical.