Formaldehyde-releasers: relationship to formaldehyde contact allergy. Part 2. Formaldehyde-releasers in clothes: durable press chemical finishes

Abstract

This is the second part of a review article on formaldehyde-releasers used as durable press chemical finishes (DPCF) in textiles. The early finishes contained large amounts of free formaldehyde, which led to many cases of allergic contact dermatitis to clothes in the 1950s and 1960s. Currently, most finishes are based on modified dimethylol dihydroxyethyleneurea, which releases less formaldehyde. Nevertheless, recent studies in the United States and Israel have identified patients reacting to DPCF, considered to have allergic contact reactions to clothes, either from formaldehyde released by the DPCF therein or from the DPCF per se (in patients negative to formaldehyde). However, all studies had some weaknesses in design or interpretation and in not a single case has the clinical relevance been proven. The amount of free formaldehyde in most garments will likely be below the threshold for the elicitation of dermatitis for all but the most sensitive patients. The amount of free cyclized urea DPCF in clothes is unlikely to be high enough to cause sensitization. Patch test reactions to formaldehyde-releasing DPCF will in most cases represent a reaction to formaldehyde released from the test material.