A science lesson for Nick Kristof of the New York Times

Perhaps New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof should stick to live-tweeting brothel raids and parachuting into war zones because when it comes to covering science, he s way out of his depth.

This past weekend, Kristof accused the chemical industry of frantically trying to suppress the scientific consensus on formaldehyde, which was declared a human carcinogen in the 2011 Report on Carcinogens, a 500-page document published biennially by the National Institutes of Health. Kristof claims that chemical industry insiders are lobbying Congress to eliminate funding for such future reports out of fear that it will cut into their profit margins. But this tirade is nothing more than a misinformed scare piece.

A little chemistry lesson is in order, says ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom, because this column is riddled with errors and illogical conclusions. Kristof mentions that formaldehyde exposure is linked to cancers of the nose and throat and even leukemia, but such cases have only been documented in workers (embalmers, for instance) chronically exposed to large amounts of the chemical. That doesn t mean everyday consumers should be worried about trace quantities of formaldehyde in household products, or from any other source, Dr. Bloom continues. The chemical is harmless at minute exposure levels, as it is metabolized in the body to nontoxic formic acid and eliminated within minutes. In fact, even the World Health Organization has pronounced that ordinary levels of formaldehyde to which most people are exposed to pose little to no health risk.

And it s ludicrous to equate formaldehyde with asbestos, as Kristoff does, says Dr. Bloom. Asbestos accumulates in the lungs and causes mesothelioma, a deadly lung cancer, he explains. Formaldehyde accumulates nowhere. And the fact that the carcinogenicity of asbestos was once unknown has absolutely no bearing on the health impact of formaldehyde, or any other chemical for that matter. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, the incidence of cancer has been dropping slowly over the past 20 years.