Let's Live magazine,
Jan. '93 - "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: A Possible Cause"
by Nancy Sokol Green, who lost a daughter thru SIDS states:
"To understand how a child's environment might be a cofactor
in SIDS, it is first necessary to acknowledge how many chemicals
are presently intertwined in our everyday environment. The average
person is now exposed to approximately 500 chemicals a day.
Yet 80% of the 49,000 chemicals we are exposed to have virtually
no human toxicity data available. Along with these facts, it
is interesting to note that SIDS was first recognized as a medical
entity 28 years ago - just about ten years after the introduction
of synthetic chemicals into our lives..."
Rocky Mountain News,
June l990 - Housing Scene article "Our Houses are Making
us Sick" by Lew Sichelman, Washington D.C.: "If you
suffer from headaches, nausea, joint pain, insomnia, skin rashes,
anxiety, depression or a host of other maladies, and your doctor
can't figure out why, your house may be the culprit. In a typical
house there are 500 volatile chemicals that outgas and the houses
are built so tightly the gasses can't escape. Cumulatively,
they can destroy a persons health."
New York Times l997
"Breathing Uneasy - Air Pollution Can Be Even Worse Indoors"
by Edward Lipinski states: "exposure to bad air often results
in health problems such as nose, throat and eye irritations,
headaches, dizziness and fatigue."
U.S. Senate Bill
S.455, l02nd Congress, lst Session, introduced by Senators Mitchell,
Chafee and Lautenberg states: "This Act is cited as the
Indoor Air Quality Act of l99l...Findings:
(1) Americans Spend up to 90 per centum of a day indoors and,
as a result, have a significant potential for exposure to contaminants
in the air indoors;
(3) recent scientific studies indicate that pollutants in the
indoor air include radon, asbestos, volatile organic chemicals
(including, formaldehyde and benzene), combustion byproducts
(including, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides), metals and
gases (including, lead, chlorine, and ozone), respirable particles,
biological contaminants, microorganisms, and other contaminants;
(4) a number of contaminants found in both ambient air and indoor
air may occur at higher concentrations in indoor air may occur
at higher concentrations in indoor air than in outdoor air;
(5) indoor air pollutants pose serious threats to public health
(including cancer, respiratory illness, multiple chemical sensitivities,
skin and eye irritation, and related effects);
(7) radon is among the most harmful indoor air pollutants and
is estimated to cause between five thousand and twenty thousand
lung cancer deaths each year;
(8) other selected indoor air pollutants are estimated to cause
between three thousand five hundred and six thousand five hundred
additional cancer cases per year;
(9) indoor air contamination is estimated to cause significant
increases in medical costs and declines in work productivity;
(11) sources of indoor air pollution include conventional ambient
air pollution sources, building materials, consumer and commercial
products, combustion appliances, indoor application of pesticides
and other sources;"
"Recommendations
for Action on Pollution and Education in Toronto: A Report prepared
for the Pollution and Education Review Group of The Board of
Education for the City of Toronto" by Bruce M. Small &
Assoc. Limited states: "Staff and students are exposed
to many pollutants which originate both within their schools
and in the neighboring communities. Many of these pollutants
can affect brain function, learning ability, behavior, and hence
education. They may also present a general health hazard."
Toronto Star, Jan.
'88 "Chemical Soup in the Classroom" by Tracey Tyler
states "The classroom represents a chemical soup",
says Greg Finlayson, Chairman of the Ontario Interagency Working
Group on Pollution in Education" .... "Headaches,
dizziness, rashes, exhaustion, nosebleeds, short-term memory
loss, coughs and vision problems are showing up in Metro-area
children."
-
Journal of the American
Medical Association, April 8, l988, Vol. 259, No. l4, "Building-Associated
Risk in Febrile Acute Respiratory Diseases in Army Trainees"
by Doctors Brundage, Scott, Lednar, Smith & Miller...their
findings were that "The health and economic costs of respiratory
tract infections in the U.S. are enormous. They are the most
common infectious illnesses among adults and the most common
illnesses overall among infants and children. Recent reviews
by Garibaldi and Dixon estimated that respiratory tract infections
annually accounted for 75 million physicians visits, l.25 million
hospitalizations, $l5 billion of direct medical care costs (2/3
in the ambulatory setting), approximately l50 million lost workdays,
and at least $59 billion of indirect costs (eg, lost income
from work absenteeism)".
