Georgia nursery furniture maker Baby’s Dream has become embroiled in a fight over formaldehyde after a Georgia TV station ran a report Nov. 12 saying a crib and dresser from the company had unsafe levels of the chemical.

Baby’s Dream slammed the report  as false and claimed one of its accusers (GREENGAURD) is using scare tactics to pump its own testing and certification business. The company issued two press releases on this, one for consumers (Download For Consumers) and another for retailers (Download False News Report Accusations). For its part, GREENGUARD emaied us their response, which is printed below this post.

Here’s our quick take on the issues. First, the TV report is clearly sloppy and biased. Baby’s Dream points out one of the furniture items shown in the report intro (a toy chest) isn’t even made by the company. The reporter likens risk of formaldehyde exposure to the Chinese lead paint scare (there’s no evidence there) and generally portrays Baby’s Dream as the bad guy (refusing to talk with the station, etc).

Yet, let’s talk for a moment about this issue. Leaving aside the bad journalism, formaldehyde is a problem the baby furniture industry has swept under the rug for years.

Over the last 20 years, the use of engineered wood (such as medium density fiberboard, MDF) in baby furniture has increased. Why? It is cheaper than solid wood and easier to manufacture. The problem: MDF is held together with resin (basically glue)—-that glue gives off gasses, including formaldehyde.

Formaldehyde has been long been known as a contributor to unhealthy indoor quality. Back in the 80’s, the EPA sought to regulate the emissions of mobile homes made from manufactured wood (remember the Katrina trailers?). Yet no national standard exists for formaldehyde levels. Yes, states like California have issued their own rules and the EPA is in the process of deciding whether to adopt this standard on a national level . . . but as of today, there is NO federal law that says baby furniture must out gas more than X parts per billion of formaldehyde.

Moment of irony: one of the reasons indoor air quality has declined is that many new homes are now built to be air tight, with much better insulation and windows. This saves energy . . . but also traps in bad air that used to leak out of old windows. And who pushed these standards? Yes, the same green groups that are now worried about poor indoor air quality.

And what is the “safe” level of formaldehyde? Is this one level for adults and another for babies? Green groups like GREENGAURD have come up with their own guess . . . and they run for-profit labs that test for this level. This has the smell of a greenmail shake-down: set the level low and then scare parents into thinking furniture makers are trying to harm their kids. Thus the furniture makers will come to GREENGAURD to get their furniture tested.

Now the federal government is going to decide what is safe. Haven’t we seen this movie before? We all remember what happened with Congress’ botched efforts to eliminate lead from anything children might possible come in contact with (CPSIA)—ask second-hand clothing stores how that story turned out.

But let’s not let the furniture makers off the hook: for years, most baby nursery furniture companies have focused on two issues: price and style. The goal is the make things as low cost as you can—hence, the move to China, the use of MDF and so on. Much more attention goes into creating that perfect hue of espresso finish than worrying about chemical emissions.

Don’t get us wrong: baby furniture makers MUST comply with a plethora of safety standards. And we don’t think anyone who runs a baby furniture company has intentionally chosen to make furniture that out gasses huge levels of formaldehyde in order shave $10 off the wholesale price. But let’s just say these execs haven’t been paying enough attention to these issues as they search the globe for the cheapest production. We know quite a few companies that take a lackadaisical approach to chemical testing. . . and this is coming back to haunt them.

So where do we go from here? Here are our suggestions:

• The EPA must come up with a clear guideline for a safe level of formaldehyde in the home and the nursery. Let science take the lead here, not the Sierra Club.

• Once this level is established, all furniture companies should TEST their furniture in certified labs and post the results on their web site and on the EPA’s site. Transparency here is key.

• If green groups like GREENGAURD want to come up with a tougher standard and issue a special green seal to furniture makers who meet it, fine. But such groups should be prohibited from making unfounded statements that only their standard is safe in order to profit from lab testing.

Chime in with your thoughts!


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GREENGUARD’s response to the Baby’s Dream story:


* The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) was neither directly involved with the recent story on a local Georgia TV stations or with the testing of the furniture. The station  contacted Air Quality Sciences, Inc., as it is the only lab in the Atlanta Metro area that has the technical capability and quality control necessary to perform this kind of testing. The story was directed and written entirely by the TV station.

* With more than 25 years of experience in chemical emissions testing and product evaluation, Dr. Black is a recognized expert on characterizing indoor air pollution and determining its relation to human health. She holds Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in chemistry and environmental health. In addition, Dr. Black wrote the State of Washington indoor air quality standards for new construction and established the emissions test protocols for office furniture, carpet and office equipment.

* In June 2004, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reclassified formaldehyde from “probably carcinogenic to humans” to “carcinogenic to humans” for nasopharyngeal cancer. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) formally lists formaldehyde as a Toxic Air Contaminant in California with no safe levels of exposure and it is considered a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

* GEI believes that chemical emissions from products may pose significant health risks and that these emissions should be minimized. This corresponds to our mission of improving public health and quality of life through programs that improve indoor air. GEI’s mission, purpose and reason for being is to educate the public on how to improve indoor environments based on available sound science and a pre-cautionary approach. As a voluntary certification program, our rigorous standards are based on guidelines and recommendations from public health agencies. We work with visionary manufacturers and organizations who share our commitment to creating healthier indoor environments.

* Background on GEI and the GREENGUARD Certification ProgramSM.

* This program evolved out of the AQSpec list program developed by Air Quality Sciences in 1996 to identify manufacturers and products that had been found to meet product emissions standards established by the State of Washington and the office furniture emissions standard established by the EPA for its headquarters’ project.

* It became apparent that it was not enough simply to test products one time and publish low-emissions results. Ongoing product performance can be influenced if there is no control over selection and handling of the products, age of the products, raw materials or manufacturing variability.

* An independent organization was needed to establish robust procedures, protocols and verification processes as part of a certification program independent from industry or monetary interests.

* GEI was founded in 2001 as a not-for-profit organization to oversee the GREENGUARD Certification Program.

* Close ties exist between AQS and GEI, but we are following industry-leading ISO Guide 65 principles to avoid conflicts of interest and employ the necessary checks and  balances. AQS serves as a GREENGUARD Program Technical Partner as does TUV Rheinland LGA. GEI also uses other laboratories as Bureau Veritas for product evaluation studies.

* GEI is an ANSI accredited standards developer, but has never claimed that the GREENGUARD product standards (VOC emissions) are ANSI approved. GEI does have an  approved ANSI standard for Mold and Moisture Management and is working on product emissions ANSI standards. In short, both organizations continue to operate openly and transparently.

* All of our methods and standards are publicly available on our website (www.greenguard.org <
http://www.greenguard.org/> ) and are based on established standards and procedures including ASTM standards, California DHS section 01350, the EPA’s testing protocol for furniture, the State of Washington’s protocol for interior furnishings and construction  materials and Germany’s Blue Angel program.