Talk:Hazardous Emissions from Wood Products

Something to discuss with the MWG.
based on publication, the risk related to formaldehyde (F) has been over-evaluated.
The main problem with wood and wood products are the org acid compounds FA, AA.

Outgassing formaldehyde has been shown to:
crosslink proteins and cellulose; Jean: wish to see a ref for proteins, is it close to a museum env , or it was done in hot high F conc. With cellulose, I did not see a problem with cotton rag paper ( Tétreault, J., Dupont, A.-L., Bégin, P., Paris, S. The impact of volatile compounds released by paper on cellulose degradation in ambient hygrothermal conditions, Polymer Degradation and Stability 98 (2013) pp. 1827 – 1837.)
cause color change in some pigments; in a GCI paper they concluded: “Formaldehyde … does not appear to be a major threat to colorants in museum collections. (Williams, E.L., E. Grosjean and D. Grosjean, “Exposure of Artists’ Colorants to Airborne Formaldehyde,” Studies in Conservation, vol. 37, no. 3, 1992, pp. 201–210.)
corrode metals; British Museum concluded that there was “no significant risk with formaldehyde …” for lead and copper alloys, and that formaldehyde could be harmful to lead only at 100% RH. (Bradley, S. and D. Thickett, “The Pollutant Problem in Perspective,” in: Indoor Air Pollution: Detection and Mitigation of Carbonyls, Abstracts of the Indoor Air Pollution(IAP) Working Group Meeting, Glasgow, Scotland, 17–18 June 1998, IAP website, <iaq.dk/iap/iap1998/1998_05.htm>. Accessed January 2019.)
cause crystal formation on glass. British museum also observed no significant damage on glass exposed to formaldehyde and also noted that water vapor alone can alter soda silicate glass. They concluded: “The organic acids have more effect than formaldehyde, which should therefore not be considered as the main danger for museum glasses.” (Robinet, L., S. Fearn and K. Eremin, “Understanding Glass Deterioration in Museum Collections: a Multi-Disciplinary Approach,” in: Preprints, 14th Triennial Meeting, ICOM Committee for Conservation, The Hague, 12–16 September 2005, edited by I. Verger (London: James & James, 2005), pp. 139–145.)