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> “Once we understood how this lignin-mediated Fenton reaction worked, and how it was at play in the wood,” says Goodell, “we had some guesses as to how we might keep the reaction from occurring.” Antioxidants—often found in breakfast cereal to preserve freshness—might block the oxygen radicals from being produced, while simple “chelators” that tie up iron, and which are often found in foods as well, could prevent iron from reacting with its surroundings. > >As it turns out, the team’s experimental work verified their findings with these food-safe compounds and these ingredients are the building block of a patent that Goodell and his University of North Texas colleague and co-author, Sheldon Shi, recently filed. By simply mixing these antioxidants and chelators with wood, or, in some cases, spraying them on wood surfaces, the researchers have shown that the release of formaldehyde can be mitigated and brought down to safe levels. Formaldehyde mitigation may be possible for commercial wood-based products as well

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The formaldehyde release is from particle board, not "wood", and it's mainly from China since they use much smaller amounts in other countries. Studies like these are ill-intentioned because the solution is to stop using formaldehyde, not to cover it up. It's like saying it's okay to force 4 year old boys to sit still and listen to lecturers for 8 hours a day because we can just give them Ritalin on top of it.

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I know that reactive aldehydes produced by cooking can be mopped up by grape seed extract polyphenols and there are studies published on that for protecting foods subjected to cooking.

Maybe relevant, and a cheap byproduct of another industry. I wouldn't expect the half life to be that great though.

Thank you, that’s what I suspected and I’m glad to have it confirmed. WOOD is OK. It’s glued-together-chips-and-sawdust products that are the problem.

Even plain wood does produce small amounts of formaldehyde naturally. Natural wood emits less than urea formaldehyde and phenyl formaldehyde glues, it’s true, but still some. Given that this research seems aimed at reducing the formation of formaldehyde in the wood itself, and glues/binders typically already have formaldehyde in them and no chemical process is needed to produce it, I am guessing they really are referring to the naturally occurring formaldehyde that is emitted from the wood itself. Which would not be covering up nasty pressed board but instead increasing air quality even in a no-added-formaldehyde construction.

Almost no contractors I know are aware of the formaldehyde content in builds. I found out the hard way be getting poisoned by it. I look at all new builds with a skeptical eye, knowing that it's toxic as hell and a bunch of ignorance people are about to move in.