NJ ZIP Codes With Highest Outdoor Formaldehyde Risk

NEW JERSEY — Formaldehyde, which causes more cancer than any other toxic chemical in the outdoor air, puts most of the country at risk, including communities in New Jersey, according to a new analysis from Pro Publica.

“In a world flush with hazardous air pollutants, there is one that causes far more cancer than any other, one that is so widespread that nobody in the United States is safe from it,” the nonprofit investigative journalism organization’s report said. “It is a chemical so pervasive that … it exposes everyone to elevated risks of developing cancer no matter where they live. And perhaps most worrisome, it often poses the greatest risk in the one place people feel safest: inside their homes.”

ProPublica makes it easy to determine the risks of the chemical and where it comes from with a search tool, which identifies neighborhoods that have higher concentrations of formaldehyde.

For example, the study found that the highest cancer risk in the state was in a section of West Mantoloking (Ocean County), where the lifetime cancer risk from formaldehyde is about 163 higher than the average.

The riskiest ZIP codes in New Jersey are:

• Brick, 08723
• North Bergen, 07047
• Sayreville, 08882
• Hoboken, 07030
• East Brunswick, 08816
• Camden, 08012, 08013, 08014, and 08015
• Ridgefield Park, 07660
• Little Ferry, 07643
• Gloucester City, 08030
• Newark, 07114
• Chatham, 07928
• West Deptford, 08093 and 08086
• National Park, 08063
• Roebling, 08554
• Rahway, 07065
• Trenton, 08611
• Montclair, 07043
• Bayville, 08721
• Woodbury, 08096
• Palmyra, 08065
• Florence, 08518
• Riverton, 08077
• Pennsauken, 08110

Formaldehyde exposure can also trigger asthma, miscarriages and cause fertility problems. The chemical is used in multiple ways, from preserving bodies in funeral homes to sanitizing some of the food on your table. It is emitted by cars, trucks and planes. It is also used to make the resins in adhesives and binders for particleboard, paper, plastics and other products; and has many other uses.

Formaldehyde can also form in the atmosphere when other chemicals are exposed to sunlight and, depending on the geography and climate of a specific neighborhood, that may increase the risk to people who don’t live in high-traffic or industrial areas, the report said.

Despite the risk, little is being done to more strictly regulate the use of formaldehyde. A powerful business lobby has thwarted attempts at reform by the Environmental Protection Agency, which Pro Publica said “has significantly underestimated the dangers posed by formaldehyde.”

The EPA is expected to create rules that could restrict the use of formaldehyde yet this month, but Pro Publica said the agency ignored its own scientists’ conclusions about the likelihood of the chemical causing the potentially fatal blood cancer myeloid leukemia, which strikes an estimated 29,000 people in the United States every year.

The EPA said the estimate for the number of people diagnosed with the cancer was “too uncertain” to include, a decision backed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. However, four government scientists with experience in analyzing health risks told Pro Publica the estimate was sound, and one said it is likely greater than the estimate.

» Read the Pro Publica story and more about the analysis.

Patch's national desk contributed to this report.