EPA Updates Its Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products
A final rule published yesterday by EPA updates the agency’s formaldehyde standards for composite wood products under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The final rule updates references to six voluntary consensus standards to reflect the most recent editions, including ANSI A190.1-2022, Product Standard for Structural Glued Laminated Timber; ASTM D5582-22, Standard Test Method for Determining Formaldehyde Levels from Wood Products Using a Desiccator; ASTM D6007-22, Standard Test Method for Determining Formaldehyde Concentrations in Air from Wood Products Using a Small-Scale Chamber; ASTM E1333-22, Standard Test Method for Determining Formaldehyde Concentrations in Air and Emission Rates from Wood Products Using a Large Chamber; ISO 12460-3:2023(E), Wood-based panels—Determination of formaldehyde release—Part 3: Gas analysis method; and Voluntary Product Standard PS 1-22, Structural Plywood, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
EPA’s final rule also incorporates by reference a new quality control test method for measuring formaldehyde air emissions from composite wood products. The Federal Register notice announcing the recent changes says that the method, ISO 12460-2:2024, Wood-based panels—Determination of formaldehyde release—Part 2: Small-scale chamber method, is intended to provide manufacturers and testing laboratories with another option for quality control testing. According to ISO, the method involves “a chamber test with different options of chamber sizes to measure the formaldehyde concentrations in air from wood products under defined test conditions of temperature, relative humidity, loading and air exchange rate.”
A news release from EPA explains that the updates to its formaldehyde standards for composite wood products are intended to “maintain consistency with industry practices [and] provide greater clarity for wood product manufacturers.” The updates do not change existing worker health or safety protections and are not related to EPA’s TSCA risk evaluation for formaldehyde, the agency states.
The final rule will take effect on Nov. 27.
For more information, see EPA’s webpage on formaldehyde emission standards for composite wood products, the Federal Register notice outlining the final rule, and the agency’s news release.