Prevalence of formaldehyde in indoor air of gross anatomy laboratory and cadaver storage room of a medical college

Abstract

Aim: Concentration of formaldehyde (FA) which is used to preserve cadavers for dissection in medical colleges was monitored in indoor air including at the breathing level in dissection classes during a 2-week study in a gross anatomy laboratory and also in the cadaver storage room in a Medical College in India in 2012. Materials and Methods: Air samples were collected for 30 min and 3 h to commensurate with World Health Organization (WHO) standard (short-term exposure limit) value of FA (30-min) and dissection class of 3 h duration respectively. Results: FA concentration ranged from 0.11 to 1.07 mg/m 3 in the cadaver storage room and 0.06-1.12 mg/m 3 in the gross anatomy laboratory. In samples taken at 5 ft height at the breathing level, FA concentration ranged from 0.32 to 0.86 mg/m 3. Conclusions: Most of the observed FA levels were found to be above the prescribed FA guideline values laid down by organizations such as OSHA, ACGIH, WHO, Japan Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare and, therefore, could be considered as harmful for students' and teachers' health. FA concentrations reported from a few medical facilities in other countries are comparable, implying that some uniform management and control strategies for FA could be contemplated to reduce risks of FA exposure to students and teachers which are discussed in this paper.

Indoor Formaldehyde Concentration, Personal Formaldehyde Exposure and Clinical Symptoms during Anatomy Dissection Sessions, University of Medicine 1, Yangon

“…As indicated by the comparisons with recommended values, we observed that indoor FA concentrations of the dissection rooms in our study were above these values in terms of either short-term exposure limit value for general population [ 12 , 31 ] or occupational limit values [ 28 , 29 ]. Several previous studies, from Singapore [ 18 ], Korea [ 17 ], USA [ 19 ], Japan [ 15 , 16 ], Thailand [ 32 ], Saudi Arabia [ 20 ], Brazil [ 22 ] and India [ 33 ], also reported that indoor FA concentrations in anatomy dissection laboratories were above the recommended levels of respective international guidelines.…”

Toward safer thanatopraxy cares: formaldehyde‐releasers use

“…; Gahukar et al. ). Indeed, an increase of FA amount in embalming fluids leads to an increase of free FA in body.…”

“…Several formulations were developed with higher FA concentrations according to the aim of the fixation (educational tool, microscopic fixations, etc.) but, taking into account the toxicity of FA, the current formulations try to reduce FA amount (Coleman & Kogan, 1998;Tissier & Mign e, 2001;Anderson, 2006;Levine et al 2006;Whitehead & Savoia, 2008;Kalanjati et al 2012;Gahukar et al 2014). Indeed, an increase of FA amount in embalming fluids leads to an increase of free FA in body.…”

“…In the anatomical context of the dissection laboratory, the adverse effects of FA have been studied extensively (Fritzsche et al 2012;Gahukar et al 2014;Arya et al 2016;D'Ettorre et al 2017;Elshaer & Mahmoud, 2017;Scheepers et al 2018). Cytogenetic damages have also been reported in anatomy workers even below the respective occupational exposure limit (Bono et al 2010;Musak et al 2013;Costa et al 2015).…”

Neutralizing formaldehyde in chicken cadaver with urea and urea fertilizer solution

“…Paradoxically, health risk among students, instructors, and all involving parties via skin contact and inhalation becomes the major disadvantages of Fd. The immediate symptoms include irritation of the throat, nose, eyes, and skin [ 3 , 8 , 14 , 15 , 18 , 19 , 21 , 22 ]. The United States Environmental Protection Agency [ 6 ] and International Agency for Research on Cancer [ 11 ] classified Fd as a human carcinogen, such as nasopharyngeal cancer, ocular melanoma, lung cancer, brain cancer, and leukemia [ 2 , 5 , 7 , 26 ].…”