Is cedar dangerous for your health when used in indoor furniture?

Question

I'm concerned about the health risks of using the cedar as indoor furniture. Had no idea about the toxicity of cedar before making a bed with my friend out of cedar from Home Depot. Apparently the fumes/oil are bad for you long term? Is there anything I can do to protect ourselves from this?

I did put one coat of wipe on Danish fruitwood oil on the bed, but thats about it. I also realised that the planks that the mattress sits on are also cedar and these were NOT sealed with anything, not even the danish oil. Should I perhaps seal those to be on the safe side. Its a very small bedroom with not much ventilation, so I want to be safe.

Additionally, I also read that using Danish oil on cedar anyway is a bad idea as doesn't fully cure? Can someone advise on the impact of this.

What does it ultimately mean if it does not fully cure. What impacts does that have? I've had the bed fully done and in use for about 7 months now.

It's a lovely bed, but I want to ensure I treat it properly to ensure any offgassing does not cause health concerns, we plan to have this bed a long time if possible.

So any suggestions on what I can do to make this safer, would be greatly appreciated.

Update 22/May/2017:

The bedhead is about 6ft high, which is basically panelling almost most of one side of the bedroom, as its a small bedroom. So theres a lot of Cedar in this small room.

The concern I had was around the plicatic acid contained in the Cedar. It also depends what Cedar, I know Western and Eastern are different. Mine was from Home Depot in BC, which I would assume is Western Cedar, as well, we’re in Western Canada, is that a good assumption? :P

And WRC is one to contain a lot of this acid…

I’m also new to Canada (coming from the UK) and Cedar is something I had not yet worked with before.

Most of the research was from google, I’ll include a few below, but it also includes the wood database page that someone else had quoted above.

I’m still however wondering if its worth adding an extra coat of ‘something’ as Cedar is traditionally used outdoor rather than indoor. Someone suggested Tung oil to me today, any thoughts on that? I’m hoping I can do something that does not involve having to do it outside, as all I have is a balcony in my apartment.

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-ar...s-and-toxicity http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthre...r-really-toxic https://www.instructables.com/answer...dar-Poisonous/

As per the 2nd link, Australian Red Cedar, has been banned as a furniture making timber, at the Canberra School of the Arts, in their Fine Furniture Workshop, as Aussie Red is carcinogenic. Not sure about whatever Cedar is over in Canada.

Again, thanks for all your comments. I really appreciate it and the efforts that you have gone to to look it up. My girlfriend will be moving in soon, and I want to make sure its all good to go. Anything I can do before then to finish off the bed is what is driving me to look into all this right now. From the googling, it has been shown dust, shavings or the wood can aggravate or even cause breathing problems, so I naturally came here to see what others more experienced than me thought about it, cos I don’t want to end up causing Asthma or whatever breathing issues for me and my girlfriend. That wood database even mentioned a cancer in relation to Cedar, so it leaves me a bit clueless as what to think of the next step.

Answer 1

Here is a link to a wood-allergy database. Two main things about wood allergens are stated:

All inhaled wood dust is hazardous to your long-term health. This chart simply lists specific woods that can aggravate symptoms through allergic reactions, or woods that are outright toxic in and of themselves. However, all woods produce fine dust when worked, which in turn can damage your lungs and cause a number of other adverse health reactions.

and

...very few woods are actually toxic in and of themselves. But what a great number of woods do have the potential to do is cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. This risk for finished wood projects is greatly lessened (but not eliminated) with the application of a food-safe finish.

It should also be pointed out that the product you're using to finish the wood could potentially cause reactions.

ETA (by @mmathis): As for the cedar mentioned in the question, the database lists most species of cedar as skin / respiratory irritants, with a potency of 2-3 (out of 4) on their scale.