Remember FEMA's Toxic Trailer ordeal? Well, another report has been released, documenting "exceptionally large emissions of formaldehyde" in trailer units tested. The study traced the chemical's presence to extensive use of cheap, light plywood and particleboard for walls, flooring and cabinet surfaces.

On 7/3/08, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released their report, stating they found that Katrina trailers emitted four to eleven times as much formaldehyde as one might get in conventional housing. At the same time, trailers "are not outfitted for adequate ventilation and are tighter than would be desired for housing with such small volume," they said.

Photo: Neil Kelly Cabinet uses Columbia Forest Products

FEMA’s trailer debacle has increased public attention on formaldehyde-laden building materials. Particleboard is at the top of the list because it is so commonly used and is almost always made with urea formaldehyde. Products made with particleboard include cabinetry, tabletops, shelving, wall and floor panels, doors, furniture and other non-structural architectural applications. Factories that manufacturer particleboard also emit formaldehyde gases.

The particleboard industry could bring its formaldehyde emissions down to Greenguard’s standard if it used different glue, phenol formaldehyde resin, but the industry has resisted this for cost reasons.

On April 26, 2007, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved wide sweeping restrictions on formaldehyde emissions from wood-based panels including hardwood plywood, Particleboard and MDF. In order to meet the new standards, producers who have not already done so will be required to either install equipment to control air emissions or cease operating altogether. Until regulations take effect nation wide, you’ll have to do a little homework to find composite wood products available in your area that contain no-added-urea-formaldehyde (NAUF) or no-added-formaldehyde (NAF), contain FSC-certified wood content or are made from recovered waste fiber.

To make things easier, we’ve compiled a list of alternatives that are currently on the market.

Sierra Pine, out of Roseville, CA, offers both particleboard and MDF. All of SierrPine’s particleboard products are SCS Certified for their recycled fiber content and meet ANSI A208.1.

Homasote, the oldest manufacturer of building products made from recycled materials in the U.S., offers sheathing made from 100% recycled wastepaper. No formaldehyde, sound deadening and twice the insulation of wood.

Panel Source manufacturers Purekor, an extensive range of Environmentally Preferable Panels (EPP) including Formaldehyde Free, Rapidly Renewable and FSC Certified panels.

Columbia Forest Product's particleboard is made using the company’s patented PureBond manufacturing process to produce its formaldehyde-free products.

Collins Pine FreeForm was the first FSC-certified particleboard in North America produced with no added urea-formaldehyde.

Temple-Inland’s TemStock-FREE particleboard meets Environmentally Preferable Product specification CPA 3-08 requiring 100% recycle/recovered fiber content.

Uniboard’s Nu-Green particleboard is FSC Certified and uses a M2 Grade ANSI moisture resistant glue.

Potlatch Terramica particleboard is SCS Certified and is produced from 100% pre-consumer recycled wood fiber.

Roseburg’s SkyBlend FSC Particleboard is manufactured in Dillard, OR, and is FSC and SCS Certified.

Dakota Burl composite is created from sunflower hulls and is ideal for a wide variety of interior applications.

Environ Biocomposite also offers Microstrand, a line of industrial grade materials that make an excellent replacement for various custom particleboard and/or plywood applications.

There are also several medium density fiberboard products available that are not made with urea formaldehyde adhesives. The best known of these is Medite II.

The most important step you can take to reduce VOC off gassing is to specify building materials that do not contain urea formaldehyde adhesives when in the planning stage of your project. Happy shopping!