A study of medical students’ exposure to formaldehyde in gross anatomy dissection laboratory

The authors studied 112 medical students exposed to the formaldehyde during the dissection of cadavers. This was done to study the allergic effects of Formaldehyde on first year MBBS students of the Smt. NHL Municipal Medical College in Ahmedabad. The study was carried out during the first 15 days of their exposure to Formaldehyde. The acute allergic symptoms like eye burning, URT irritation, cough, lacrimations and headache were noted and found to be significant. These symptoms were also significantly related to time and place of occurrence. Medical schools should take more concrete measures to reduce students’ exposure to formaldehyde.