Surprisingly, nearly everyone in this highest-exposure group worked in one field: The researchers found that of the 591 people in the study who worked in jobs that the researchers considered as having a high probability for high-intensity exposure to formaldehyde, all but one person worked as funeral directors, Roberts and her colleagues wrote in their article published today (July 13) in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.
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A new study shows funeral directors may be at increased risk of the neuro-degenerative disease A-L-S because of formaldehyde in embalming fluids.
All the 493 men with high intensity and probability of exposure to formaldehyde were funeral directors as were almost all the women.
The association urges its members to take precautions and minimize their exposure to formaldehyde, mainly by ventilating rooms where embalming occurs as they prepare bodies for burial. Because ALS is quickly lethal, death certificates are a good way to measure the number of people who have the disease, Roberts told Live Science. It is progressive, causing muscle weakness, paralysis, and eventually respiratory failure and death. The condition, which gradually paralyzes patients by damaging their nerves, affects an estimated 30,000 Americans.
The team of experts, from Harvard Medical School, US Census Bureau, Harvard School of Public Health, and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, analysed data from the US National Longitudinal Mortality Study.
They also pointed out that female funeral directors are more likely to interact with bereaved clients and less likely to actually carry out any embalming than their male colleagues. They then used death records to track deaths caused by ALS.
That risk increased even more among men who likely were exposed to large quantities of formaldehyde very often.
They calculated on the basis of that whether or not any of the people had exposure to formaldehyde at their workplace.
Women with a high probability of exposure did not have an increased risk of ALS. The risk posed on veteran is much higher than the average, although the reasons are not clearly known yet.
This is an observational study so no definitive conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, and the authors caution that jobs involving a high level of exposure to formaldehyde are relatively rare, added to which funeral directors are exposed to other chemicals used in embalming as well as to bacteria, and prions.
Lucie Bruijn, chief scientist of the ALS Association, agreed with those reservations.
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“In addition, many NAFD funeral directors study for the professional qualifications offered by the British Institute of Embalmers”.
