Manufacturing of wood panel boards such as plywood, MDF, and Particle boards requires certain chemicals and glues. Formaldehyde is used for the construction of boards, these may be phenolic, melamine urea, or a combination of these. These are a must for binding, and these create emissions. Because of Formaldehyde, common VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are released into the air, compromising air quality indoors or outdoors.
We as users or consumers of these panel boards were least worried about these emissions and more concerned about user attributes such as water resistance property, strength, and bonding.
However, now we are concerned about emissions due to increased awareness of environmental and health-related issues and look forward to low emission-based boards.
Many countries such as us USA, European countries, and Japan have strict quality norms, and other countries have started following norms and adopting standard practices followed by developed nations.
USA has quality norms such as CARB 2 (California Air Resources Board ACTM phase II), or recently introduced TSCA (Toxic Substance Control Act Title VI) compliant boards.
In China emission standards are known are E0, E1, or E2 where E0 is the highest quality standard (meaning the lowest emission or equivalent to CARB 2)
Japan has its set of the standard JAS (Japan Agriculture Standard) wherein they have F****, F***, F**, or F*, wherein F**** is the highest quality standard.
Indian manufacturers have already started offering plywood, MDF, and particle boards complying with either of these standards and are members of either or more than one standard body that certifies products.
Without going into technical details, let us start using boards that compromise the lowest emission for healthy living. These boards may cost a little extra, but the health benefits are immense. Even though the Government of India has not mandated it, we can still start using these boards, and the good thing is that many reputed manufacturers have started manufacturing these, and emission-free or low-emission boards are available.
Bottom line: For the better health of kids and, the elderly let us make our surroundings emission-free, and let us begin with emission-free wood panel boards wherever possible.