Thursday, 6 December 2018

Formaldehyde


Formaldehyde 

Herrera, N. (Photographer). (2018). Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Nail Polish [Photograph]. Calgary, Canada. 

 The most common stress reliever for some people is getting their nails done, and who doesn't? Most girls either like to go to a salon to either have their nails painted or to get fake ones while others prefer to do their own nails at home. Some common brands of nail polish are Revlon, Essie, and Sally Hansen. What most people don't know is that there is a chemical found in nail polish known as formaldehyde1.  Formaldehyde is most commonly used as a preservative for human and animal tissue but also used in other things such as foods, antiseptics, medicine, and cosmetics2. 

Formaldehyde was accidentally discovered when a Russian chemist, Alexander Butlerov3. While trying to synthesize methylene glycol when he noticed a colourless gas being produced with a foul and pungent odour that formaldehyde typically gives off3. It was then discovered and produced properly by a German chemist named August Wilhelm von Hofmann who prepared it by heating a mixture of methanol3. Formaldehyde is not synthesized by two steps, the first is dehydrogenation7. dehydrogenation consists of removing a hydrogen from a chemical compound7. The second step is oxidation where the hydrogen by product that was removed from the first step is then used as a fuel for the process7.

The chemical structure of formaldehyde consists of a carbon double bonded to an oxygen and bonded to two hydrogens that gives off a 0 for its formal charge4. It has a pH range of 2.8-4 and it is considered a toxic and flammable gas1,5. If you are every exposed to a high exposure of formaldehyde some symptoms can arise indicating the exposure. It can be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin6. The symptoms of exposure are skin and eye irritation, damage to the respiratory and gastrointestinal system, behavioural changes, and can also cause leukaemia and cancer to the nasopharynx6.

The real question here is why is this still used in common everyday products? Well, formaldehyde is now being removed from products by Revlon and Sally Hansen. However, these companies have still added a formaldehyde-releasing product. Now this product is not formaldehyde, but it does release it in order to cause the same effects as formaldehyde would. But why would companies do this when it has the same effect and the same health risks? These companies don’t want to have that foul, harsh chemical within their products because health concerns could arise from it, so they put something similar with a different name and no one would suspect a thing. But it has not been confirmed that nail polish is bad, and if it was no one would know about it. So why has there been nothing about the knowledge of this in cosmetics, because there has been no cases where it has ever been an extreme threat to the body.


References 
1 Nail Care Products. U.S Food and Drug Administration, 2018. https://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ProductsIngredients/Ingredients/ucm127068.htm#forma (accessed November 27, 2018) 2 American Cancer Society. Formaldehyde. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/formaldehyde.html (accessed November 26, 2018)
4 Pubchem. Formaldehyde, 2004.National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/formaldehyde#section=Top (accessed November 25, 2018)
5 WHIMIS classification for Formaldehyde, 2015. Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail. https://www.csst.qc.ca/en/prevention/reptox/Pages/information-sheet-whmis.aspx?langue=a&no_produit=1149
(accessed November 28, 2018)
6 Formaldehyde, 2012. Health Canada. http://hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt//air/in/poll/construction/formaldehyde-eng.php (accessed November 26, 2018)
7 The Essential Chemical Industry-online. Methanal (Formaldehyde). http://www.essentialchemicalindustry.org/chemicals/methanal.html (accessed November 26, 2018)

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