Skip to the posts
Buffalo's neighborhood journals since 2003 🌱 Plant🌶️ Spice🩸 Heme🐸 Scaj☀️ Light🐦‍⬛ Crow

paul’s journal

Paul, the formaldehyde truffle pig

· · 🌡️ 21°F

I have a big nose with extraordinary smell capability. Generally, I think I can smell better than most people Like if a smell is in the area, I can smell it usually 2-3 minutes before everyone else and no one believes me till they smell whatever the scent is. I was telling @enknot the other day that if I ever lost my job I bet I could be trained as a rug sniffing human at the airport, lol.

I am especially sensitive to formaldehyde I can smell it in really small concentrations and it makes me nuts. Same with various plastic smells, seem like softer plastics and cheaper plastic smell worse to me. Anyways, I think formaldehyde is the worst smell. Ever since dissecting my first of three fetal pigs in Biology class I became instantly familiar with the pungent odor that is formaldehyde. They have definitely used it in the Life Sciences building at work because I can always detect it there. Even in the little food shop. In fact I refuse to go there. Lots of new buildings smell like it and plywood is the worst.

Formaldehyde Facts

Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling gas that is used to manufacture building materials and produce many household products

Formaldehyde sources in the home include pressed wood products, cigarette smoke, and fuel-burning appliances

When exposed to formaldehyde, some individuals may experience various short-term health effects

Formaldehyde has been classified as a human carcinogen (cancer-causing substance) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and as a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

esearch studies of workers exposed to formaldehyde have suggested an association between formaldehyde exposure and cancers of the nasalnasopharynx, and brain, and possibly leukemia sinuses,

Taken from




308 words

💬 3 comments

  1. mrdeadlier ·

    I am on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. My wife will say "What is that smell?" And my reply is often something like "Huh?"

    I consider it a gift. We can be out somewhere and she will be perturbed about something she smells and I'm completely oblivious.

  2. dragonlady7 ·

    I got super-sensitive to smells for like a day after a bout of either stomach flu or food poisoning (I never figured out which). It was awful!
    Everyone thought I was pregnant!

    I think I offered this before but I'm serious, if you want an air purifier that takes out formaldehyde I can get you one cheap. Apparently the less you're exposed to it, the more you can then tolerate.

  3. paul ·

    I may hit you up on that later but right now I just eliminated all sources of the smell that bother me. The bed is gone and I don't work in that building that smells.

💬 Write a comment