There is always a drawback for those people who work with chemicals. This is awfully true when researchers from the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health discovered that people who use formaldehyde in embalming corpses in funeral homes are at increased risk for developing ALS or amyotropic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as the Lou Gehrig's disease, Daily Times Gazette has learned.

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More specifically, as reported in the July 13th issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, those male funeral directors whose job involves incessant exposure to the embalming liquid with formaldehyde, has three-fold more increased risk in developing the neurologic disease as compared to those people who were never exposed to the chemical, according to Philly.com.

The team of researchers assessed people's on-the-job exposure to formalin and then correlated death records caused by ALS.

In a statement released by the National Funeral Directors Association, it was stated that funeral directors are aware of this occupational hazard and they take these studies seriously, as per CBS Connecticut.

The association encourages its members to take serious precautions and to try as much as possible to minimize their exposure to formaldehyde by properly ventilating the rooms where they embalm and prepare the corpses for the burial.

The association noted: "Adequate room ventilation is the single most effective means of decreasing exposure to formaldehyde."

There have been previous animal studies done that linked the chemical to the development of ALS.

Thanks to the Ice Bucket challenge, ALS awareness has been increasing. ALS is a degenerative neurological disease that damages the motor nerves in the spinal cord that eventually lead to paralysis. Aside from having a genetic predisposition, it is actually idiopathic in nature and is very fatal in less than eight years. It is mostly diagnosed in the 5th decade of life.

The study has only mentioned males as their population, as there are insignificant number of women who are in this line of work and it is hard to estimate the risks.

The research authors also noted that the study does not create a direct association between increased formaldehyde exposure and ALS because there might still be other factors that haven't been included such as certain bacteria and toxins from the corpse.

"The field has seen mixed reports on this, and although the data has been carefully analyzed, further studies would be needed to confirm any association, especially in light of the many other exposures that funeral directors are subjected to... In addition, jobs that involve high intensity formaldehyde are relatively rare, hence the difficulty in confirming such association," said chief scientist Lucie Brujin, of the ALS association.

Tagsals, formaldehyde, Embalmers, Study