KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — It's a chemical found almost everywhere and it causes more cancer than any other toxic air pollutant.
The pollutant, called formaldehyde, causes numerous other health issues, according to a recently published analysis from ProPublica.
ProPublica analyzed formaldehyde concentrations modeled by the Environmental Protection Agency and released through the agency’s AirToxScreen database from 2020. The data the newsroom compiled shows, overall, Knox County's cancer risk is slightly higher than the average range.
Formaldehyde can cause issues like asthma in both children and adults; other respiratory ailments, including reduced lung function; and reproductive harms, such as miscarriages and fertility problems.
In Knox County, people living in three zip codes, near the University of Tennessee, Whittle Springs and Lonsdale, have a one in 46,000 chance of getting cancer from formaldehyde. The EPA's goal is to keep the risk of cancer from being over one in 10,000 and work to get the risk to be closer to one in a million. Though this number is significantly higher than what the EPA considers ideal, it is still within the acceptable range.
According to the nonprofit newsroom's analysis, Tennessee's highest cancer risk is in Memphis, with seven zip codes having the highest cancer risk.
Formaldehyde is used by companies for everything from making furniture to sterilizing food.
"It is virtually everywhere," the analysis said. "As the backbone of American commerce, formaldehyde is a workhorse in major sectors of the economy, preserving bodies in funeral homes, binding particleboards in furniture and serving as a building block in plastic. The risk isn’t just to the workers using it; formaldehyde threatens everyone as it pollutes the air we all breathe and leaks from products long after they enter our homes."
The analysis broke down the most at-risk ZIP codes for formaldehyde cancer in each state, including Tennessee. Here's a look at the risk for every Knox County zip code. Click on each for more in-depth data:
