title: Occupational hazards of hospital personnel: assessment of a safe alternative to formaldehyde.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Formaldehyde - a chemical widely used to preserve organic tissues in hospitals - is known to be carcinogenic in the long term and to cause breathing-related symptoms in the short term. We have taken advantage of an experiment to quantify this second effect among hospital workers in terms of probability of showing respiratory symptoms with respect to a benchmark in which tissues are preserved using a procedure with arguably no impact, i.e., under-vacuum sealing.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper exploits an experimental situation with controls for potential confounding effects to estimate a logistic regression of the probability that formalin (a solution of formaldehyde and water) causes respiratory symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The probability for formalin users was found to be eight to ten times higher than for personnel testing under-vacuum sealing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The substitution of formaldehyde with under-vacuum sealing would markedly improve the health of personnel.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Policies and Public Choice, University of Eastern Piedmont.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berton
authors.forename: Cinzia Di
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Novi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D012120:Respiration Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D014021:Tissue Preservation; D014618:Vacuum
chemical_list: D000395:Air Pollutants, Occupational; D005557:Formaldehyde