Officials watching Hawaii’s air quality tonight

Hilo Medical Center’s emergency department gearing up for holiday

I think this report on extra air testing and a prepared hospital is supposed to make people like me with respiratory problems feel safer, but it doesn’t! It just gets me more worried about what the night will bring.

Right now my neighbors are erecting tents for a big party. So my health over the next 12 hours depends solely on the weather: if it rains as forecasted, the firecracker maniacs will be deterred, and if the wind is blowing the smoke away from my house, then I might be okay no matter if it rains or not. Last year was very difficult. It’s not just problems with my breathing and how the toxic smoke makes me feel (sick), but my eyes become so horribly irritated that I can’t read or watch TV or do anything but sit here and endure it.

And no matter what the officials say, staying indoors with air filters does nothing to keep the toxic smoke from entering our homes. In Hawaii our homes are like sieves, they are not sealed in any way, shape or form. What is outside is inside, and inside our bodies.

No one wants to ring in the New Year with a trip to the emergency room.

But Hilo Medical Center’s emergency department staff is taking extra steps to prepare for a possible influx of people with respiratory conditions from smoke caused by fireworks, said Reggie Agliam, nursing supervisor for Hilo Medical Center.

The hospital is also ready for any burns or fireworks-related injuries that might occur, he added.

As far as increased emergency department activity on New Year’s, Agliam said, “last year wasn’t too bad,” but added the hospital would rather be safe than sorry.

The state Department of Health will be monitoring Hawaii’s clean air quality throughout the state during New Year’s Eve and comparing it with national ambient air quality standards. The heavy use of fireworks during the annual holiday celebration can significantly increase the amount of particulates in the air, especially on Oahu, according to the department.

“We are going to be measuring particles in the air. Smoke is made out of particles,” said Lisa Young, environmental health specialist for the Department of Health. The smoke caused by fireworks can aggravate conditions such as asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Young said the same monitoring stations that test for vog on the Big Island are being used to record fireworks-related smoke levels. The department will be monitoring particles from smoke in Hilo, Kona, Pahala and Mountain View, Young said.

The department is encouraging the public, especially people with respiratory conditions, as well as young children and the elderly, to be properly informed and prepared for the upcoming New Year’s firework celebration.

According to the department, people who suffer from respiratory conditions may want to take certain precautionary measures during fireworks celebrations, including: staying indoors and closing windows and doors, avoiding people with colds and other lung infections, making sure air conditioners or air purifiers are working properly and filters are changed, avoiding smoking or second-hand smoke and washing hands often and thoroughly.

The department also recommends people make sure they have an adequate supply of medication on hand, as directed by a physician, and that people contact a physician if they need more medication or want to get clear instructions of what to do if health conditions suddenly worsen.

While the suggestions are intended for those with existing conditions, they are also useful for healthy people during high air pollution episodes, including times of high particulates dust, fireworks smoke and volcanic haze, according to the department.

Take care, dear canaries, wherever you are: Stay safe out there!

Link to story by Terri Henderson at The Hawaii Tribune-Herald

Photo by kolix

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Warning: Avoid ozone generating air machines

While manufacturers of ozone-generating machines will tell you that the ozone is harmless and will clean the air you breathe (example of the spin here), the fact is that ozone generating machines are not only ineffective at cleaning the air, but they can be extremely harmful to your health. From the EPA website:

Manufacturers and vendors of ozone devices often use misleading terms to describe ozone. Terms such as ‘energized oxygen’ or ‘pure air’ suggest that ozone is a healthy kind of oxygen. Ozone is a toxic gas with vastly different chemical and toxicological properties from oxygen. Several federal agencies have established health standards or recommendations to limit human exposure to ozone.

Further, I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard about exposure to ozone from these types of machines triggering full blown Multiple Chemical Sensitivity in unsuspecting consumers. We’ve discussed ozone machines previously on The Canary Report when one of our flock was exposed in her home.

Please note that while ozone machine manufacturers will tell you that the “unused ozone always reverts back to oxygen in about an hour,” the EPA, using “sound science, only peer reviewed, scientifically supported findings and conclusions,” says, “Some of the potential by-products produced by ozone’s reactions with other chemicals are themselves very reactive and capable of producing irritating and corrosive by-products (Weschler and Shields, 1996, 1997a, 1997b).” So in reality, ozone in the home creates chemical reactions with other chemicals already in the home, and no one has ever studied the impact of that lingering toxic brew.

Here’s the astonishing thing about the regulation of these machines: The EPA has a whole page on their website dedicated to informing the public about the dangers of ozone generators that are sold as air cleaners, and yet the government still allows these machines to be manufactured, sold and used inside homes. I can’t for the life of me understand what’s going on with this. These dangerous machines should be pulled off the market NOW.

Environment News Service reports today:

The California Air Resources Board has issued a consumer alert, advising holiday shoppers not to purchase air purifiers or air cleaning devices that intentionally generate ozone.Some devices that are advertised as “air purifiers,” air cleaners, or ozone generators purposely emit large amounts of ozone, the main component of smog.

“Not only are such ozone generators ineffective at cleaning indoor air, but breathing ozone poses serious health risks,” warns the Air Resources Board, recommending that these ozone generators not be used.

“Consumers should take care when considering purchase of an air cleaning device,” said ARB Chairman Mary Nichols, “Beware of misleading advertisements offering air purifiers that are simply indoor smog-making machines.”

Consumers may unknowingly purchase these “ozone generators” from advertisers touting the so-called benefits of “activated oxygen” that can make the air inside your home “as fresh as the outdoors after a thunderstorm,” the board said, quoting the ads.

In fact, the board says, “Ozone generators are capable of emitting enough ozone indoors to far exceed outdoor health standards and can intentionally create the equivalent of a Stage 1 smog alert inside your home.”

These devices pump a well-known air pollutant into people’s homes putting everyone at risk, especially the most vulnerable - the young, elderly and infirm.

The devices can produce levels of ozone that can worsen asthma, cause serious lung inflammation, decrease lung function, and lead to hospitalization for respiratory conditions, emergency room visits for asthma, and increased school absences.

Link to more of the story at Environment News Service

Photo by M. Stephens

Homemade, nontoxic bathroom cleaners

Okay, here’s the antidote for the last post. I was just messin’ with you.

Link

No comment

Link

Canary’s Cry for Monday, Oct. 13

WCSH6.com carries an AP release on Johns Hopkins scientists who report that high levels of a noxious gas from stoves can be added to the list of indoor pollutants that aggravate asthma symptoms of inner-city children, especially preschoolers.

The LA Times reports on how people in China also suffer from indoor air pollution because of stoves and smoking. The air inside lower-class homes is up to 10 times worse than the gloom outside, researchers say.

StarTribune.com in Minneapolis-St.Paul Minnesota reports on problems caused by people sitting around the back-yard fire pit: some neighbors are up in arms over the health risks from the smoke.

StarTribune.com also reports on biomonitoring to measure chemicals directly in people’s bodies: their blood, urine, hair and other body tissues and fluids. Studies are looking for arsenic in people in south Minneapolis and 3M chemicals in the east metro, another study will test mercury levels in newborns’ blood. A fourth test will check the urine of pregnant women for a group of seven compounds called phenols, found in a wide variety of items from plastics to personal care products.

Bloomberg.com carries a story on the mold problems in Galveston one month after Hurricane Ike.

SCTV news in Orange County, California, warns about unhealthful air quality caused by the wild fires.

Photo by Gypsy D

Seventh Generation’s guide to non-toxic cleaning

Here’s another book to help you on your way to a clean and green house free of toxic chemicals.

Did you know that the Greek root of the word “ecology” means “house”?  If everyone created a healthy, green environment in our homes, it would extend to the greater good for the planet.  My evolution into environmentalism began with caring about endangered species issues to natural beauty products to vegetarianism to green cleaning.  Seventh Generation and the Children’s Health Envrionmental Coalition’s Blue Buttefly.org have teamed up to create a green cleaning guide for safer homes titled Naturally Clean:  The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe & Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning.

Naturally Clean is written by Jeffrey Hollender, Geoff Davis, Meika Hollendar, and Reed Doyle. The book is divided into seven sections:

1. Case for Change at Home: These chapters are about the chemicals in household      cleaners and the negative effects they have on our health, including cancer, asthma, hormone disruptions, and multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS).

Like almost anything else, there is a good side and a bad side to all the molecular manipulation chemists practice. There are safe chemicals, and there are unsafe chemicals. Our problem today is that we don’t really know which are which.

2. Household Chemistry 101: This section examines the chemicals found in our homes.  The “bad behavior” of household chemicals are discussed from biodegradability to persistence to bioaccumulation to synthesis to potentiation.

What happens, for example, when you use a petrochemical spray cleaner around your bathroom and rinse its remains down the sink? What happens in your home’s atmosphere when you install a rug and fill your home with that “new carpet” smell?

3. The Dirty Secrets of Household Cleaners: There are many loopholes in cleaning product labeling, and many of the ingredients have not been subjected to adequate testing to determine chronic exposure risks. For example, antibacterial cleaners’ active ingredients are actually classified as pesticides by the EPA.

In fact, these products work so well, it’s impossible to imagine cleaning without them. Yet perhaps we should, because behind their cheerfully sparkling labels of crystal mountain streams and field of wildflowers waving in the freshest breeze, all too many household cleaning products hide a dirty little secret:  they’re made from synthetic chemicals that are toxic to people and dangerous to use.

4. A Better, Healthier Way to Clean: From baking soda to olive oil, a core list of do-it-yourself natural cleaning ingredients is explored. Other simple ideas are given to limit your exposure household chemicals, such as keeping your dishwasher closed for an hour after it has completed its cycle.

Nobody wants to come home to a castle that’s anything less than clean. On the other hand, it’s abundantly clear that the modern cleaners we’ve been relying on to make short works of all our housework are dangerous at best and downright deadly at worst. Where exactly does that leave us?  The answer is simple:  in the hands of Mother Nature.

5. Kidstuff: This is why I clean my house with natural ingredients: the kids!  Children experience greater exposures to household toxins than adults.

Simply put, children are most susceptible to the dangers presented by the chemicals in consumer products.  Compared to adults, they have a far greater chance of developing health problems as a result of exposure to toxins hiding in everything from cleaning products to toys.  If we’re vigilant when it comes to our own health, we need to be hyperprotective when it comes to safeguarding our kids.

6. Breathing Easier Indoors: Indoor air quality is of course affected by household cleaning chemicals. There are approximately 900 contaminants found inside American buildings. “In fact, the air inside our homes is often far more polluted than the air just outside its walls.”  The good news is Naturally Clean lists the “Top 20 Air-Purifying Plants” so you can clean the air in your home naturally.

7. Recommended Products: The toxicity, including acute and chronic, of many natural brands of cleaning products are listed in table form.  Knowing what brands are safest is the first step to changing your cleaning habits at home.

There is so much information in Naturally Clean:  The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe & Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning! Even though this book is a guide from Seventh Generation, it is not a book promoting their products. It provides compelling evidence for switching to safe cleaning products and room-by-room guides to help you make your home healthier for your family.

Link

Vog is coming my way on Sunday

Trade winds to ebb by Sunday evening; weekend may end amid vog

Great. The wind is going to bring the vog to Hamakua tomorrow. Well, it was a good break while it lasted.

For those of you who haven’t been following the local air drama, our vog situation here on The Big Island got very bad earlier this year when the volcano started spewing especially nasty, toxic chemicals, the worst in historical memory. This did not bode well for my health. Although I cannot prove a causal trigger, at the height of the toxic levels this past spring, my breathing became difficult in general and my multiple chemical sensitivity heightened to an absolutely exquisite level. It got so I couldn’t even go into Hilo for shopping and chores, and I started going north to Waimea.

So this next week may be difficult for me. I can hardly wait!

For those wondering when vog will return to East Hawaii, the smart money is on Sunday.

That’s because the National Weather Service is predicting that the normal northeasterly, or trade wind patterns, will dissipate sometime Sunday afternoon. That would give the vog from Kilauea volcano a path toward the Hilo area with little or no wind resistance.

“It’s not going to be a statewide Kona winds event,” said Derek Wroe, a NWS forecaster in Honolulu. “The winds are going to get light and variable, and when that happens … the vog is not going to just sit around the source around the Volcano area. And it is possible that possibly late Sunday afternoon and Sunday night into early Monday morning, that some of this vog may come down the mountain to Hilo.”

Areas likely to be affected, according to a statement from the state Department of Health, are Volcano village, middle and upper Puna, Hilo, Hamakua and South Kohala. The DOH advises residents and visitors to be prepared and aware of the surrounding air conditions, and how they may react to vog in the air.

“People who have been exposed to vog in the past, we’re asking to take precautions on their own,” said Bill Hanson, a county Civil Defense administrative officer. “If they feel they are being affected by vog or sulfur dioxide, they should limit their exposure by getting indoors, closing their doors, closing their windows. … However, if it gets to a point to where they need to seek medical attention or just get out of the area, that is also advisable.”

Advice includes not smoking and avoiding second-hand smoke, drinking plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration, and being prepared to evacuate, if necessary, including securing homes, businesses and property, preparing an evacuation kit, planning for the care of family pets and livestock, and familiarizing all family members of emergency plans.

[...]

On the Internet:

Hawaii County Civil Defense, http://co.hawaii.hi.us/cd/index.htm;

Hawaii Department of Health, http://hawaii.gov/health; governor’s Web site on vog, http://hawaii.gov/gov/vog;

USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/

Link

Link to photo: The Volcanic haze settled in over East Hawaii on May 15, 2008, by Perceptions Unlimited on Flickr

Related posts on The Canary Report:

Volcanic gas invading island

Vog and health problems

Living in a haze

Swimming in chlorinated pools “increases asthma risk five-fold”

Children who swim regularly in chlorinated pools are five times more likely to develop asthma, research has found.

When I was a little kid, I was always in the ocean or a swimming pool. On Kauai, my mom owned a surf shop on Wailua Bay, and when I wasn’t with my horses, I’d be swimming in the bay (sometimes mixing it up: on the horse in the water!). I used to sneak into the pool at the Coco Palms hotel, next door to our neighborhood, and swim until my finger tips were prunes. During the summers, when I visited my dad in California, we’d go to the country club pool every day (yes, I lived simultaneously in two totally different cultures!). In fact, I have a cap on my left front tooth from smacking my face on the edge of the pool while goofing around in the deep end. I was, in essence, a fish.

But chlorine is nasty stuff, and since I developed chemical sensitivity some 15 years ago, I cannot tolerate it at all. When I’m around chlorinated pools, it affects my eyes, nose, lungs, and makes me feel like crap. If I drink chlorinated water, it tastes (and smells) like chemical soup. That’s why the water in my house is filtered for chlorine at the point of entry; there are no chlorine fumes coming from any pipe in my home.

I know chlorine is toxic. I didn’t develop asthma, but my body tells me it’s toxic. I understand the need to keep public water free from contaminants, especially drinking water, but there are alternatives for swimming pools, and household water needs to be filtered at the point of consumption. We should not be exposed to the stuff!

So here’s a report just out of London about research showing the high incidence of asthma in kids exposed to chlorinated pools:

Swimming is recommended as a good form of exercise for asthmatics because the warm humid air is less likely to trigger attacks than other physical activities.

But mounting research is suggesting that the chlorine used to keep the pools clean could be contributing to the development of the condition.

Researchers in Belgium studied the effects of swimming in outdoor pools regularly from a young age and found a strong link.

Previously the same team have found that indoor pools may also increase the risk of asthma in children.

It is thought the chlorine fumes floating around the surface of the pool may help to trigger the condition by irritating the upper airways.

Link

Interested in alternative swimming pools? I posted about it here, with a great video.

Link to photo by Tom@HK at flickr

Some info on Toxic Mold Awareness Month

Here are some upcoming events in conjunction with National Indoor Mold Awareness Month (September). Activities include a talk show that you can connect to via your computer.

(Note: There’s good stuff in here on events to raise awareness about toxic mold, but the post is slightly disjointed. I’ve tried to clean it up a bit and add some live links so it’s easier to read and access info. Post is snitched from a group called TWUSEA and the Homeless Underground based in Seattle.)

The Governors from the following states have signed the National Indoor Toxic Mold Awareness Month (NITMAM) Proclamation! We would like to thank the Governors from Pennsylvania , Mississippi , Florida , Michigan and Nevada (one week beginning September 21, 2008) for declaring National Indoor Toxic Mold Awareness Month in their states.

The following Governors have denied the National Indoor Toxic Mold Awareness Month Proclamation in their states: North Carolina , Texas and Tennessee.

We have Indoor Toxic Mold Representatives from Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, California (2 reps), Arizona, Illinois, Oregon, Iowa, Wisconsin, and 1 International Representative from Bermuda.

If you are interested in being an Indoor Toxic Mold Representative or want to help with planning events in those states where the proclamations were signed, please send an email to nitmam@nimsociety.org.

UPCOMING NITMAM EVENTS!

YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS EPISODE 12 OF THE NATIONAL INDOOR MOLD SOCIETY INTERNET TALK SHOW!

The NIMS Internet Talk Show will continue with the theme of celebrating the National Indoor Toxic Mold Awareness Month (September 5 to October 5, 2008).

You will also hear from William Croft, DVM, PhD, Medical Pathologist. He has been called the The Father of Molds/Mycotoxins.

Scheduled Time: Date: Sat, September 13, 2008 Time: 08:00 PM EDT

How to participate:

Join from your computer:

1. Click here to join the call or just listen along http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=31030&cmd=tc

2. Become a TalkShoe member (Sign-up for talkshoe and download talkshoe live to listen, chat, and ask questions live) http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/userCreate1.jsp

Call in:

Dial: (724) 444-7444

Enter: 31030 # (Call ID)

Enter: 1 # or your PIN

Next NIMS Internet Talk Show: September 20, 2008 Time: 08:00 PM EDT

William Croft, DVM, PhD, Medical Pathologist

[...] In 1986, Dr. Croft published the first paper on indoor mold poisoning in the North American Continent and demonstrated the fingerprint for Trichothecene Mycotoxins in animals and humans. This study was in part funded by the United States Army. He has completed 15 autopsies, 9 adult humans and 6 children, clearly demonstrating pathology caused by inhalation versus ingestion of these mycotoxins. Dr. Croft has studied, and observed over 6,500 people demonstrating signs and symptoms of mycotoxin poisoning and has determined the stages for inhalation mycotoxicosis. Dr. Croft has studied this disease for 25 years on a pathological basis and in an effort to allow others to become aware of the disease; he is willing to share what he has learned concerning this environmental disease.

SUMMARY OF PRESENTATION:

Dr. Croft will discuss the answers to the question: He will discuss various topics from the history of fungi, the definition of molds and mycotoxins, cross-contamination, stages of the disease, and trichothecene mycotoxicosis.

CONTACT DR. CROFT:
For more information about Dr. Croft and his services:
Website: www.edgi.org
E-mail: doccroft@hotmail.com
Office: (608) 274-1618

NITMAM EVENTS IN TENNESSEE :

[...] SIMPLY SHARON will be at Barnes and Noble Booksellers 1701 Mallory Lane, Brentwood, TN 37027 at a LOCAL AUTHORS RECEPTION, THURS September 18, 2008 from 6-8pm.

Please forward this to all you know and come on down and say hello to SIMPLY SHARON!

Her book, IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD will be sold that night for $17.99. Be sure and have her sign it before you leave! [...]

IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD brings to life the painful realism of toxic injury due to mold /mycotoxin exposure as well as addressing the social stigma of the horrendous myth that mold is nontoxic. [...]

TENNESSEE INDOOR TOXIC MOLD AWARENESS WEEK SEPTEMBER 21- 27, 2008

Monday, Sept. 22 to Wed. Sept. 24 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CST
SAV-A-LOT
700 Highway 100
North Park Shopping Center
Centerville, TN 37033

Thursday, Sept. 25 to Sat. Sept 27 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CST
Krogers
143 Henslee Drive
Dickson, TN 37033

For more information about Sharon Pawlak, a.k.a Simply Sharon and events in Tennessee, visit her websites www.moldmadness.com and www.myspace.com/simplysharonspeaks.

Walkability: The Land Use - Public Health Connection

Here’s an interesting article discussing walkable neighborhoods and the correlation between people walking more and improved health. It’s written by Beth Conover at Headwaters Consulting, who has over 20 years experience implementing sustainable environmental and economic practices. It’s a smart concept, and us canaries should be interested promoting this kind of growth because we benefit in many ways: not only is the walking just plain good for health but less vehicle use means cleaner air for us to breathe.

Here’s Ms. Conover’s post:

Earlier this week I chanced upon the walkscore website, which ranks the walkability of hundreds of United States neighborhoods by calculating the average distances between homes and basic services to determine their ease of accessibility to people on foot. From the site:

Picture a walkable neighborhood. You lose weight each time you walk to the grocery store. You stumble home from last call without waiting for a cab. You spend less money on your car-or you don’t own a car. When you shop, you support your local economy. You talk to your neighbors.

What makes a neighborhood walkable?

• A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it’s a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
• Density: The neighborhood is compact enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to run frequently.
• Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
• Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
• Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the back.
• Nearby schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.

Streets Designed for Everyone

Complete Streets are roads are designed for everyone who uses them, including bicyclists, pedestrians of all ages and abilities, and people getting on and off transit vehicles. These streets are:

• Accessible: There are wheelchair ramps, plenty of benches with shade, sidewalks on all streets, etc.
• Well-connected: Streets form a connected grid that improves traffic by providing many routes to any destination.
• Built for the right speed: Lanes are narrow or traffic calming is in place to control speed.
• Comfortable: Pedestrian medians at intersections, count-down crosswalk timers, bicycle lanes, protected bus shelters, etc. make the street work better for those outside of a car.

It’s a beautifully simple concept, and one that’s at the heart of current land use planning and public health efforts. In our car-centered culture, “walkability” has become an elusive (and so desirable and increasingly marketable) quality. It’s something our ancestors took for granted: ready, car-free access to life’s amenities, with an intangible boost to quality of life (related to exercise, knowing your neighbors and the makings of a desirable “place”)  thrown in.

As detailed in many recent studies, many of the same land use principles that support environmental health also often support improved public health. Some of the greatest public health challenges of our time  - obesity and respiratory illness - have been traced to inactivity and poor diet, which, in turn, appear to result from living and working in places that are car-centered and do not encourage (or actively discourage) individual physical activity and healthy food choices. It is hard to log 10,000 steps per day on a pedometer if you spend all your spare time driving to and from work, school and a big box shopping center. Walkable neighborhoods improve the well-being of those who live in them by reducing the circumstances that lead to  problems like obesity and respiratory illness.

Link to rest of article

Employees say mold in hospital causing illness and death

Complaints dating back to 2006 from workers in Atlanta’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at MCG Children’s Medical Center have led to a lawsuit. Workers have complained for years about illnesses that appear to them or others to be related to mold and mildew.

The Metro Spirit has done an expose on the problems, the details of which will make you wild.

The hospital denies it’s a problem. Deborah Humphrey of the MCG Health public information office said the hospital would not grant an interview on the subject because none was needed. “Problem identified, problem solved,” she said.

However, Metro Spirit has obtained documents in which a hospital employee has accused MCG Health of having such serious mold and mildew problems that it has contributed to the death of a patient.

Todd Brandenburg first made a documented complaint about mold and mildew in April 2005. He was later written up by MCG Health for “improperly reporting a mold issue.”

MCG Health said the complaint caused a waste of manpower, even though mold was later discovered and remediated as a result of his complaint, Brandenburg said. He was fired a few months later.

“All I wanted to do was be a good employee and alert the hospital to a potential problem,” he added. “I did not know it would lead to me being fired.”

As part of his grievance against that firing, a grievance that has now grown into a lawsuit, Brandenburg laid out his concerns about mold causing health problems at MCG Health.

“I was told that the suspected mold problem was simply a housekeeping issue and that the mildew I saw growing was only dust,” Brandenburg wrote in his grievance. “The mildew smell remains prominent in that area.”

He spoke directly to the seriousness of the matter. “There was a patient death due to environmental issues with the facility carpet (notably in the CMC [Children's Medical Center]), not to exclude the infection rate from the growth of bacteria in the five NICU sinks. This lends evidence to the fact that the ‘mold’ issue has (in all likelihood) not been fixed.”

Link to complete story.

Related posts in The Canary Report:

Mold at the center of controversy

Missy kicks ass, forces former employer to fix building

A message from Missy Gluckman: The fox is watching the hen house

Bath best way to smell good

Here’s the cutest letter to the editor ever, in response to an op/ed piece on perfume at YumaSun.com.

Thanks, Natacha Dannenberg, for writing about perfume. I am allergic to perfume and after shave lotion. I pass out from it. Besides it being a chemical, there are so many additives in it. It causes cancer. I’ve been told that by a doctor.

I have been around people who get asthma attacks from perfume and people who lost their voice from it. And yes, if people have trouble concentrating, they should try doing without perfume and after shave lotion.

I am wondering why they don’t have “hazard to your health” on the bottles. It is worse than second-hand cigarette smoke.

The best fragrance is a bath - you can smell if you are dirty or clean.

AGI MONTGOMERY
Yuma

Link

Photo by Daniel KJ at flickr.

Housecleaners form green cleaning cooperative

Professional housecleaners are frequently exposed to hazardous cleaning products and have a higher incidence of asthma compared to other workers This week on the radio show Living on Earth, which is a weekly environmental news and information program, reporter Catherine Elton reports on a group of Brazilian immigrant housecleaners in Boston who have joined together to form a co-op that makes their own environmentally-friendly and safe cleaning products, and educates other housecleaners as well. The group is called Vida Verde Cooperative.

GELLERMAN: You’re listening to an encore edition of Living on Earth, I’m Bruce Gellerman.

Many of the things we use to wash bathrooms, unblock drains, and make ovens spic and span contain toxic ingredients. Lurking underneath many a kitchen cabinet are chemicals hazardous to your health. For professional cleaners - many of whom are women, and many of them immigrants - daily, repeated exposure can make them sick.

There are safer alternatives. Clean and green are the new watch-words for many household products advertised on TV these days, but getting the word out to non-English speaking workers can be difficult. That’s where a house-cleaning coop in Boston comes in, as Catherine Elton reports.

[SOUND OF WOMEN SPEAKING IN PORTUGESE]

ELTON: In the basement office of the community organization the Brazilian Women’s Group, several Brazilian housecleaners sit around tables and discuss the agenda for an upcoming meeting. The women are part of Vida Verde, a new green cleaning cooperative that began last December.

Monica Chianelli, a housecleaner and the coop’s coordinator, helped launch Vida Verde. She says housecleaning is the number one occupation for the women of Massachusetts’s large Brazilian immigrant community.

CHIANELLI: It’s because the flexibility of the hours and the money, the payment is good.

ELTON: But along with those benefits, coop member Carla de Castro says, came some problems.

CASTRO: I felt a headache all day long and dizzy, and the end of the day you can’t smell anything because you just lost your sensitivity to smell. I can feel better if I stop to use. But I know if I continue to use for months and years, I know it’s going to make me feel very sick.

ELTON: Castro wasn’t the only one feeling this way. Monica Chianelli worked with immigrant activists, interviewing hundreds of Brazilian housecleaners. She heard many complaints like these and about respiratory problems, nose bleeds, fainting and skin rashes. Some of the women said they felt so bad they considered quitting the business.

So Chianelli and the activists started promoting green cleaning products. Their work caught the attention of epidemiologist David Gute of Tufts University. When he received a grant from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to study immigrant occupational health issues, a chunk of it went to jumpstart the Vida Verde Cooperative.

GUTE: What we hope to get is a group of coop members who will take seriously the responsibilities of protecting their own health and also protecting, obviously, the environmental heath of the clients homes in which they work. I think that there will be a greater sense of control in their own lives and businesses as a result of this.

ELTON: Research shows there’s a higher incidence of asthma among professional cleaners as compared to other workers. And other studies examine indoor air pollutants that could affect human health. A four-year study recently completed at the University of California Berkeley looked at whether routine use of common cleaning products and air fresheners affect indoor air quality. Researchers studied solvents called glycol ethers - a toxic air contaminant and common ingredient in cleaning products. They also looked at other solvents called terpines. They’re the seemingly innocuous ingredients which give products lemon or pine scent. But terpines can create dangerous formaldehyde when they mix with ozone found in indoor air.

Link

RealAudio for this Story
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Green cleaning in schools reduces health problems

Schools across the country are finally realizing that harsh chemicals in the classroom are affecting the health of kids and teachers. What’s great about this article in Education World is recognition of the rise in numbers of children with chemical sensitivity, also called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

And as the number of children diagnosed with asthma and chemical sensitivities continues to increase and research mounts about the importance of indoor air quality, some school leaders are seeking out a new generation of cleaning supplies for their school buildings.

CLEANING GREEN BENEFITS KIDS, STAFF, LEARNING

Decreasing the use of chemical cleaners in schools can reduce the number of health problems among teachers, students, and custodial staff; cut down on absenteeism; and even improve student performance, according to green cleaning advocates.

“The more you do to improve the environment in the buildings, the more you see [performance] improvements,” said Claire L. Barnett, executive director of the Healthy Schools Network and coordinator of the Coalition for Healthier Schools. “Every school district is enrolling more children with health and behavior problems. Kids are more vulnerable to chemicals; when schools take steps to reduce chemicals, they often see behavior and attendance improve.”

The keys to learning, she noted, “may be in custodians’ pockets.”

“Most schools don’t see cleaning as integral to the mission of educating children,” added Steve Ashkin, president of The Ashkin Group, a company devoted to green cleaning. “But I assure you, they are not going to learn if they are getting sick.”

People spend about 90 percent of their time indoors, and indoor air can be between 5 and 100 times more polluted than outdoor air because of the lack of circulation, said Barnett, citing information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency .

“Most schools use cleaning supplies that can affect teachers and kids,” noted Rochelle Davis, executive director of the Healthy Schools Campaign, advocates for policies and practices that create healthier school environments. “But there is no reason schools shouldn’t be making changes. Green cleaning products are available, effective, and affordable.”

What kinds of cleaning products are used at your child’s school?

Link.

Related links on The Canary Report: Pesticide exposure at school and the greenSCHOOLS program.

Home cleaned with chemicals could give children asthma

A study assessing the effects of women’s use of domestic chemicals during pregnancy on wheezing and lung function in children aged less than eight-and-a-half yrs reveals that a house cleaned with chemicals could pose risk to child’s health.

Mothers-to-be could be condemning their children to lives of illness. Despite believing that they are creating a bug-free environment safe for their children, the women may be exposing them to harmful chemicals. Researchers suggest that in the long-term, the mothers could increase their children’s risk of asthma by as much as 41 per cent.

They then compared the results with the mothers’ exposure to household chemicals.

The study found that the more chemicals that mothers were exposed to, the higher the chance of children suffering from wheeziness.

Toddlers up to 18 months old saw their risk of wheezing rise by 41 per cent. By 30 months, this had increased to 43 per cent. After this age and up to seven, the risk increased by almost 70 per cent.

In the past, research has suggested that creating a clean home may stop a child being exposed to bacteria.

But although this sounds good news, it may prevent children from building up a natural immunity to bugs, increasing their chances of suffering asthma later.

The latest research suggests that it could be the direct effect of chemicals in cleaning fluids which is to blame after coming into contact with the foetus or the new-born baby.

Dr Alexandra Farrow, whose study was published in the European Respiratory Journal, said: “Previous research has shown that a child’s risk of developing asthma is lower if he or she is exposed to bacteria in early life.

“This is probably because it assists in the development of a child’s immune system.”

Snitched from Environmental Health & Safety (interesting site)

Link to study abstract

Photo by Brittney Bush at Flickr (with a great riff on this photo)

A little moth: What’s the uproar?

I wrote last week about Stop the Spray, a successful grass roots environmental movement in California that stopped aerial spraying meant to eradicate the light brown apple moth. Here’s a great video about the movement:

It’s a battle won. But Dr. Ann Haiden, D.O., an integrative physician and breast cancer survivor, says we need to look beyond the aerial spraying to the Big Picture of our toxic environment.

So it’s now, urban spraying out. Sterile moth release in.

So everything is better now. Right?

Not exactly.

I’d like to present the broader view here. To put it simply, we are living in a world full of toxins and they are making us sick. We don’t need any more of them. We can’t even tolerate the ones we have! That includes all sorts of pesticides and chemicals. Ahem… the ones you put on your lawns and gardens too.

Our bodies have ways of dealing with toxins…to an extent…and some people do better than others. It’s partly a matter of genetics. The bottom line is that folks that happen to be less adept at dealing with toxins can bear the brunt of more illness (especially infants, kids, the elderly and people who are already sick). Things like asthma, heart disease, chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, Parkinsons disease…and the list seems to be growing by the day. You get the picture.

The amount of toxicity we are exposed to everyday exceeds what many of us can cope with. And it’s not just a person here or there. Some of the enzymes we all use to help detoxify chemicals of all sorts are less efficient in up to half of us. So we can’t really say it’s just a few weak outliers.

Link

Link to Dr. Haiden’s website for her osteopathic practice. By the way, I am a strong advocate of osteopathic medicine. Osteopaths, who are integrative in their approach to health and healing, undergo the same academic discipline as their MD colleagues and receive an additional 300 to 500 hours in the study of the body’s musculoskeletal system.

7/4 UPDATE: Public pressure has forced the California Dept. of Food & Agriculture to back down from spraying over urban areas, but agricultural communities are still at risk. Read the press release and visit stopthespray.org for more information.

Environmental passion recognized by Audubon Society

The Massachusetts Audubon Society recently honored Robin Organ (left) for her work in promoting greenSCHOOLS, a program she started after nearly dieing from allergies and serious health issues she says were caused by chemicals and additives in everyday foods and products.

Organ had some health issues over many years but became hypersensitive to food and environmental products after her second pregnancy four years ago. She was allergic to foods like wheat, peanuts, and soy and she became hypoglycemic and had hypothyroidism as well as digestive issues and asthma.

She even had adverse reactions to medicines she was taking to manage her symptoms like the pink dye in Benadryl.

Her children also had multiple allergies, chemical sensitivities, digestive issues, and chronic illnesses.

Organ said there are food additives, chemicals, and dyes in everything from skin care products that are absorbed within 30 seconds to children’s vitamins, lip-gloss, shampoos and even bagels.

Organ ended up seeing a holistic doctor at the Marino Center in Cambridge who was able to help her “put the pieces back together again.”

“Because of the choices we made in our diet and the environment we live in, the kids were able to get off their medications and didn’t need surgery,” said Organ. “Once we were able to control the environment and look at some of the allergy issues, things calmed down.”

She also worked with her daughter’s kindergarten class to educate them about the cleaning products they used as well as the foods given as snacks to the children. That small start grew into greenSCHOOLS with programs on nutrition, programs on reduce, reuse, and recycle, as well as staff training and parent and community programs.

She says people should educate themselves by reading labels and become more environmentally aware of toxins and how they enter homes. There are many non-toxic choices for cleaners, detergents, and personal care products offered by Method, Seventh Generation, and Melaleuka, many of which cost the same as regular products and work just as well, she says.

Brava!

Link

greenSCHOOLS

The low down on carpet, part 2: Maybe more toxic than an active volcano

Yesterday, I posted a story about the toxicity of carpeting, linking you to an excellent report with strong data on the dangers. I also included a link to a study about carpeting and asthma.

Coincidently, in yesterday’s local news, there was a report about a just released study on vog (the toxic gases and ash produced by the active volcano located in the southern area of our island) and its possible link to the high incidence of asthma found here. The study was conducted for the past five years with about 2,000 Big Island students. Interestingly, they found that the vog doesn’t cause asthma, but it can trigger an asthmatic episode in someone who already has asthma.

But that’s not what perked up my ears- - remember our topic is carpets.

Most everyone here assumed that vog is the cause of the high asthma rates here, but now this study challenges that belief. Researchers say they will now turn their attention to other possible causes. And look where they say they are going to look:

“Vog seems to have some effect [on asthma], a moderate to observable effect in the data that we’ve collected, but many other things besides vog seem to have as great or probably greater effect,” said Jean-Pierre Michaud, a professor at UH Hilo.

Researchers want future studies to look at factors like mildew, pets, carpets and mold. [emphasis mine].

Veddy in-ta-eh-STINK! They seem to be focused on the mildew/mold spore component of carpets, but perhaps they will explore the impacts of the chemicals in carpeting as well.

Local TV report, with a video, too: Link

National Park Service photo by N. Judd (April 18, 2008): Link

Yesterday’s Canary Report post: Link

The low down on carpet

Carpeting, especially recently installed carpeting, is a big problem for me. Within minutes of exposure, the toxicity is affecting my cognitive abilities, my muscles, eyes, skin & lungs. If I have to attend a meeting in a room with new carpeting, I struggle to make sense of things while furiously taking notes because I know I won’t remember a thing. It might take days before I feel normal again. Carpeting is bad, bad stuff.

Here’s an excellent five-part series on toxic carpeting by Cindy Duehring, director of research at the Environmental Access Research Network in North Dakota. The articles are lengthy, but well worth the time– they are well researched and her arguments are backed up by extensive citations on research, U.S. Senate hearings, and the shenanigans of the carpet industry. Here’s an excerpt from Part One on Jocelyn McIvers, whose son had an adverse reaction to new carpet in their home:

That October the CBS news program Street Stories did a segment about Anderson Laboratories in Dedham, Massachusetts. At the request of a number of people, the lab had tested certain carpet samples for biological effects and came up with some disturbing findings. Using a standard testing method (ASTM-E981), Rosalind Anderson, Ph.D., found that air blown across the samples was causing severe respiratory and neurological/neuromuscular abnormalities and death in mice. The television script highlighted the health problems several families had experienced as a result of new carpeting. The McIverses saw the program.

“So we had our carpet tested and sure enough, the mice were rolling over and shaking just like our son did,” said Jocelyn. “We were horrified.”

The McIverses immediately removed the carpet and pad, scraped off the adhesive, washed down the entire house, baked it out again, aired it, and moved back in December of 1992. “Since December Christopher’s tremors have entirely stopped,” Kevin [McIvers, the father] reports.

Part One: EPA Stalls and Industry Hedges while Consumers Remain At Risk

Part Two: Carpet Installers Speak Out as the Medical Evidence Mounts

Part Three: New Carpet Label Receives Mixed Reviews

Part Four: Physicians Speak Up As Medical Evidence Mounts

Part Five: Industry Strategizing Memorandum Comes to Light

And here’s a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology linking carpet to the risk of asthma: Link

Toxic carpet removal photo credit: Link

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