Survey of Chemical Substances in Consumer Products, 64 – Emission of chemical substances from products made of exotic wood

Emission of chemical substances from products made of exotic wood

Preface

This project "Emission of chemical compounds from products made of exotic wood" was carried through for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency under the programme "Survey of chemical compounds in consumer products" in the period May-November 2003.

The target group for this report is authorities, manufacturers, importers and consumers of products made of exotic wood that will obtain information about environmental and health aspects in relation to products made of exotic wood.

The purpose of the project is to analyse the emission of chemical compounds and to determine whether there are health risks by consumer products made of exotic wood, when used at home. The first priority is given to the emission of volatile organic compounds to the air and less to ingredients and compounds, which can be emitted from the products by migration into artificial saliva. The emitted compounds have been evaluated in relation to LCI-values and indoor-relevant time-values, and it has been evaluated whether the wood species examined could cause allergic reactions.

The project has been divided into 3 phases:

Survey of the products made of exotic wood species on the Danish market
Measurement of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Evaluation of emissions and constituents

The following project group carried out the project:

Lis Winther Funch Laboratory technician, Danish Technological Institute Timber

Mogens Kragh Hansen MSc pharmacy, Ph.D., Danish Painters Occupational Health Service

Lilli Kirkeskov Jensen Head doctor, Ph.D. Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Skive Hospital

Bodil B. Knudsen Medical assistant, specialist in dermatology,

Department of Dermatology, Gentofte University

Hospital

Eva Kristiansen Toxicologist, MSc medicine vet. Ph.D., Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Viborg Hospital

Lars Mølhave Ph.D., MSc., associate professor, head of the Air Pollution Unit at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine (IMA), Aarhus University

Thomas Witterseh MSc., Ph.D., Danish Technological Institute Timber (project responsible)

The Danish Technological Institute Timber and Chemical Department carried out the experimental part (phase 2) of the project.