Formaldehyde exposure and leukemia: A new meta-analysis and potential mechanisms

Genotoxicity Biomarkers: Application in Histopathology Laboratories

“…Long exposures to FA, as those to which some workers are subjected for occupational reasons, are suspected to be associated with genotoxic effects that can be evaluated by biomarkers (Conaway et al, 1996;IARC, 2006;Viegas & Prista, 2007;Zhang et al, 2009). In this study the results suggest that workers in histopathology laboratories are exposed to FA levels that exceed recommended exposure limits.…”

“…Commercially, FA is manufactured as an aqueous solution called formalin, usually containing 37 to 40% by weight of dissolved FA (Zhang et al, 2009), which is commonly used in histopathology laboratories as a cytological fixative to preserve the integrity of cellular architecture for diagnosis.…”

“…The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reclassified FA as a human carcinogen (group 1) in June 2004 based on "sufficient epidemiological evidence that FA causes nasopharyngeal cancer in humans" (IARC, 2006;Zhang et al, 2009). In their review, IARC also concluded that there was ''strong but not sufficient evidence for a causal association between leukaemia and occupational exposure to FA'' (Zhang et al, 2009(Zhang et al, , 2010. However, some studies have also led to mixed results and inconclusive evidence (Franks, 2005;Speit et al, 2010).…”

“…Skin reactions, following exposure to FA are very common, because the chemical is both irritating and allergenic (Pala et al, 2008). FA induces genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in bacteria and mammals cells (Ye et al, 2005) and its genotoxicity and carcinogenicity has been proved in experimental and epidemiological studies that used proliferating cultured mammalian cell lines and human lymphocytes (Pala et al, 2008;Speit et al, 2007) by DNAprotein cross-links, chromosome aberrations, sister exchange chromatides, and MN (Zhang et al, 2009). …”

The obsolescence of formocresol

“…23 Recently, formaldehyde was strongly associated with leukaemia while generally accepted as a direct cause of nasopharyngeal cancer. 24 Despite any clinical success in its usage, it is currently accepted that attention must be paid to the mutagenic (genotoxic) and carcinogenic properties of medicaments. In early 2008, Ribeiro reviewed the need to consider genotoxicity in the hope of improving our approach to general oral health while being certain that we are not contributing to oral carcinoma.…”