The chemical formaldehyde may be making funeral directors susceptible to motor neurone disease, researchers warn today.
A US-based study sought to identify the increased risk faced by people working with formaldehyde.
But their research found that those most at risk were funeral directors, who use the chemical to prepare bodies for burial.
The study found those with a high exposure to the chemical faced a four times increased risk of dying from motor neurone disease – also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
As all the victims were funeral directors, it is possible the risk was aggravated by exposure to other substances found in human bodies, such as prions, which can cause brain disease.
The findings, from Dr Andrea Roberts, of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, are reported in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.
The findings only applied to male funeral directors and not to women. The researchers say it is possible that women working in the industry spend less time than men working with bodies – and more time working with bereaved relatives.
The researchers write: "This is an observational study so no definitive conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. Jobs involving a high level of exposure to formaldehyde are relatively rare, added to which funeral directors are exposed to other chemicals used in embalming as well as to bacteria, and prions.
"But experimental research has linked formaldehyde to nerve damage, increased permeability of the energy powerhouses of cells—mitochondria—and harmful free radical production, all of which are implicated in ALS."
Job related formaldehyde exposure and ALS mortality in the USA Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry 14 July 2015; doi 10.1136/jnnp-2015-310750
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