by Elizabeth Hare (formerly Stutt), AEHA National Education Chair, and Illustrated by Linda Phillips

Reproduced with Permission from The AEHA Quartery, Vol. XVI, No. 4 (Winter '94/Spring '95), pp. 29–33.

What are Environmental Sensitivities?
Behavioural Signs and Symptoms | Physical Signs and Symptoms
Sources of Indoor Air Pollution | What Employers Can Do

With increasing pressures to improve profits, employers are cutting corners. They are buying cheaper, toxic chemicals to maintain buildings. They are reducing airflow in the workplace to reduce energy costs. But at what cost? The cost is productivity, human health and morale. The cost is too high. Abram Hoffer, MD, PhD, has been quoted as saying "No a mount of evidence can persuade anyone who is not listening." I beg you to listen. I beg you to care.

The workplace of the 60s and 70s (yes, I do remember it well) was far different from the workplace of the 90s. In 1977 my office was large (about 10 feet x 20 feet, if my memory serves me well), had smooth flooring (no carpets anywhere, except perhaps in the big cheese's office), a door I could close, lots of windows that I could open, and my furniture was solid oak. Unfortunately, the powers that be were lured into a brand new office tower and, as a result, my office environment changed dramatically.

A space with no window, no door, particle board furniture and an eight-foot by eight-foot piece of carpet with six-foot partitions around me to call my office. Within six weeks I resigned at the recommendation of the personnel officer. I was on the verge of a physical and nervous breakdown due to the poor indoor air quality in the building, the lack of natural light, the noise pollution and the lack of privacy. What price progress!

Maurice Strong, Chair of the Earth Council, stated that "The world is not facing a political crisis, or a health crisis, or a poverty and population crisis. It is a moral crisis [....] The question is, do we have the moral conviction, the moral courage and the political will to change our ways" [from "Challenging the plight of children: 'no time to lose'", Global Child Health News & Review, No. 1, 1994, p.2]. The change, in my opinion, is to look back to the 60s and to retrieve some of what we lost, particularly with regard to indoor air quality.

Buildings built with real (read "not wood pieces or dust stuck together with glue") wood. And cleaning products which are non-toxic (and preferably unscented). We need to be kind to the Earl and kind to ourselves. If we do not, the price will be too high as more and more employees are forced to leave the workplace due to poor health and for some, total disability.

Very conservative estimates admit that at least 15 per cent of our population is adversely affected by environmental pollution. A recent Health Promotion Survey (1990) by Health Canada indicates that 81 per cent of Canadians believe that their health has been adversely affected to some degree by pollution [ Premier's Council on Health, Well-being and Social Justice, Wealth and Health, Health and Wealth (Toronto: May 1994), p. 34]. Indoor air pollution is a serious environmental health problem since people spend an average of 90 per cent of their time indoors [United States Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Hazards in Your School: A Resource Handbook (October 1990), pp. 12-14]. A Toronto study by R.W. Bell indicates that the level of contaminants indoors is at least two to five times higher than outdoors [Bell et al., The 1990 Toronto Personal Exposure Pilot (PEP) Study (Toronto: Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1991), p. 11]. The World Health Organization estimates that 30 per cent of homes and buildings today contain enough indoor pollutants to cause health problems that range from a sniffle to more serious health ones.

The benchmark used to assess indoor air quality in buildings — ASHRAE Standard 61-1989 [American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., ASHRAE STANDARD 62-1989: Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality] — is based on the premise that 20 per cent of a healthy young adult male population will react adversely at the levels set by the standard.

Many people today are suffering from the effects of pollution and have been referred to as the "canaries in the coat mine". Heed the message. People are dying from or being totally disabled by exposure to poor air quality. Does it have to be you or someone you care deeply for before you take action?

What are Environmental Sensitivities?

Environmental sensitivities occur when some individuals become unable to tolerate exposure to common substances in their everyday surroundings or enviromment.

Some substances that may act as triggers include

• Harmful substances, either naturally occurring or synthetic, in our air, water, food, personal ahd home care products, fabrics, furnishings; hospital, school and office equipment and supplies; building materials; and chemicals used or stored in the home, health care facilities, schools, workplaces, farms or industries and public transportation vehicles.
  

• Natural substances such as pollens (grass, trees, plants and weeds), dusts, molds and animal danders.
  

• Foods.

The severity of symptoms can range from mild discomfort to total disability or chronic health problems. Symptoms may develop suddenly or slowly. Environmental sensitivities can develop in individuals of any age regardless of whether they have a past history of allergies.

Environmental sensitivities can be progressive. Prevention, early detection and treatment are therefore of paramount importance. Treatment of environmental sensitivities focuses on prudent avoidance of offending agents, appropriate nutrition, supportive counselling and other medical interventions.

Some of the behavioural signs of food and chemical sensitivities which may be observed include:

The physical changes which one's body can undergo due to poor indoor air quality can include:

Many sources of contaminants in our indoor environments are found in the workplace as well as our homes. Common contaminants include: