Formaldehyde
Preserves corpses. Present in every puff.
At a glance
- Also known as
- Methanal · Formalin
- CAS number
- 50-00-0
- Toxicity
High
- Carcinogenic
- Yes — IARC Group 1
- In cigarette smoke
- 40-100 μg per cigarette (DKFZ)
- In vape aerosol
- 2-50 μg per puff at high wattage (Jensen et al., NEJM 2015)
What is Formaldehyde?
Formaldehyde is a pungent gas, the simplest aldehyde. It's used industrially as a preservative and adhesive. The IARC has classified it as „carcinogenic to humans“ (Group 1) since 2004. In cigarette smoke it forms as a pyrolysis product — same with dry-running vape coils.
Why is Formaldehyde in cigarettes?
Incomplete combustion of cellulose and tobacco sugars produces formaldehyde and other short-chain aldehydes. Each cigarette delivers 40 to 100 micrograms of formaldehyde into the mainstream smoke (source: DKFZ). In vapes, formaldehyde forms when the coil gets hotter than the liquid can vaporise — the so-called „dry hit“. At high wattages, up to 50 micrograms per puff has been measured.
What Formaldehyde does to your body — short term
Formaldehyde immediately irritates eyes, nasal mucosa and upper airways. Burning in the throat, coughing, red eyes and skin reactions occur at low concentrations. Sensitive people react with asthma-like symptoms. The irritant effect is immediate and measurable even at low exposure over years.
What Formaldehyde does long term
The IARC classified formaldehyde in 2004 as a human carcinogen after reviewing several occupational cohorts. Specifically documented: nasopharyngeal carcinomas (tumours in the upper throat) and leukaemia. Chronic exposure additionally causes persistent airway inflammation and measurable lung function decline.
Where else do you know Formaldehyde from?
Formaldehyde is the substance that preserves anatomy specimens and embalms bodies for burial. Industrially it's in particle and MDF board adhesives, glues, preservatives and some hair-smoothing products — where its cancer classification regularly leads to bans.
How it compares
The German workplace exposure limit for formaldehyde is 0.37 mg/m³ over 8 hours (DFG MAK). A single cigarette delivers many times this concentration into the lung in a few seconds of inhalation — direct airway contact with a confirmed carcinogen.
Workplace exposure limit: 0.37 mg/m³ (0.3 ppm, DFG MAK)
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