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Our lookup tool shows you how high the cancer risk from formaldehyde is on your block, where it comes from and how your block compares to the rest of the country.

But the risk could be 4x higher than shown in our app. EPA scientists had evidence that formaldehyde causes myeloid leukemia, but ultimately rejected their estimate for how much is required to trigger a case of the cancer because the number was "too uncertain." So the overall risk doesn't include it

Our app shows you where all this formaldehyde comes from on your block. A lot of it comes from "secondary formation," which, like smog, is when emissions and other natural chemicals cook together in the atmosphere.

I've put in suburban, rural and urban addresses and they all come up just about the same, right in the middle, with secondary sources being the culprit.

There’s no pissing section in the swimming pool either.

I hear what you're saying. I just thought the point of an interactive, nationwide map was to show wide disparities in who is breathing in pollution, but if it's all pretty much the same everywhere, kinda seems like the map's pointless. Though I did learn that trees can create formaldahyde pollution.

That's an excellent metaphor.