“…the findings might explain why formaldehyde may be toxic to the nervous system. Neurons don’t divide or replicate DNA, so they aren’t as vulnerable to the kind of damage formaldehyde does to DNA. But they are especially vulnerable to accumulations of damaged and misfolded proteins – that’s what happens in Alzheimer’s and some other disease, for example – and that’s exactly what Zhitkovich’s team has found formaldehyde causes in cells. Animal studies, he noted, have shown that formaldehyde exposure undermines brain functions such as memory and learning.”