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DCHAS-L Discussion List Archive

From: Janet Baum <baum.janet**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Cadaver labs and formaldehyde
Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 11:47:08 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: CAAgNRJhFDNkXd4hNjhsB78YpWSa6h8TE1_feh2zKWC22nB01aQ**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To


Dear John, Yes, many colleges and medical schools that require few cadavers for gross anatomy labs, use water immersion, not formaldehyde. To learn more about design of gross anatomy laboratory design, please refer to Chapter 17 in Guidelines for Laboratory Design: Health, Safety, and Environmental Considerations, 4th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2013. This book has 12 sections or paragraphs addressing formaldehyde use, exposures, and ventilation control methods.

Yes, if formaldehyde is used, there are special ventilation requirements required by OSHA to achieve permissible exposure limits to formaldehyde fumes. ACGIH also has guidelines on the threshold limit value of exposure to formaldehyde.

Yes, there are legal requirements to control exposures to formaldehyde (OSHA). These are achieved primarily with ventilation methods and administrative controls.

Janet Baum, AIA
Washington University in St. Louis


On Sat, Aug 23, 2014 at 10:06 AM, Nail, John <jnail**At_Symbol_Here**okcu.edu> wrote:
A question for those of you who have cadaver labs -

Does a 'formaldehyde-free' embalming method for lab cadavers exist?

If a university is building a cadaver lab, does the lab need to have
specialized equipment that will remove airborne formaldehyde?

Can the air in the lab be vented to outside the building without
treatment?

Is there a legal (compliance or civil) reason to be monitoring for
formaldehyde?

Many thanks for your replies,

John Nail
Professor of Chemistry
Oklahoma City University

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