Tobacco Documents Online

4_-)C.I k1; I V a~: a u~ - - . ; v ~ WIA`( 2 l 1985 /--,A => ~ ~

~ . By I1ltdred Hamilton Ei;aminer staff ,w-ritef FTHII federal Qentn Alt A'et were ; applied to most of f ices, there would bea smoR aleM The aSr Lt THAT dirty, That's the word from Dr. Stanton 6linu of the Univetia- ty of California at San Francisco. Idost indoor air potlunion comes x'from cigarrt,- - bul,sotneof tlte oth er viUa iasinclud'e em issions' f t am ?a{fke copiers, partfcle board and fiber Doard, carbon monoxide exhaled by ~ vorters and trapped by poorventila- tlon r-even the stagnant watar furnes. °"fmm tttotdy cxuk on cooiing,cystetnti AIl areliealth basards However. i meet,ofthe 5,qtlUannuat lung cancer. `deathscaused by"second-hand. 'smoke ' are among nonsmokers forced ito work beside stnokers.. Jstttes Repa'ce, envii•onmer.tal pofi- :cy analyst of the Eavironmenul Pro. 'tection Agency;hcreicKt weekfrom :bu Washington, D-C. oftiee, pointed', 'SO the 5AOt7 deaths as he ulked ahottt I; the dangera of `secand-hand smokt .hnd !ways to min'Sm ina indoor' air polJu- I tion 'Obaccosmoke,'he said; 'is head' and stioulders above everything else as a carcinogen, and as the cause of ir- ritating respirrtory protilemsof non- smokers in the oftice" Public awarenes and temedial ef-' forts by experts are slowly irtcreasing around the country. A medical condi- fion known u"the tfght building syn, drome" is now a'recogttized ailtnent: Two occupational health dinirs, one at UCSF and one at &tt h}ancisco ' Gerterll HospitaU deal with W Sus,pett buildings can now be tnort- ltored by indtntrial hygienists and ept dentfo{agists Architects and Interior designers are giving znace attention to Their selection of,tnat'eriak and tnc chanicaiengineetsareincrezsingty aware of ventilation challenges. Pro- f essional !sa¢ieties in ah e building'(ieJd are also trassessing airslandatds'and' federal and state {egtsJbtors are looking zt', possible controla' "Congrea has given the EPAA2 million for researrlron air poilution and has asked us to come up with reca omrnendauoas' Repace nid: 'ILe Bay ArM meanwhile, is home to the lndoor Air PoldutionCualition, an informal associa'tiron of' employers,' emptoyees, unions, environmental groups'and the American Iiung Asso- oation 1t'tt headquartered atuhe . 1!3orthern California Occupational' Health Cert ter 0Z1'CZiannin g Way, Berkeley BI72tl, phone64255fJh, "I'his of fice is a rrsource,".ud tndusuial hy-, gienst Patty Quinlan of the center'a' I Labor'.Occvpational Health Program. "San Francisco led'theway with its law regulating smokinR in the work, p19ce. th >r pace sawt"1i made peopierealixe itispossrble to ggt , such a law. Now there are many tattti- ]sr trwvesacrass the country•,.' 7]tey, a n t oome too roon, he ad'd= ed. "A person spends 88 percent'of his' Ume at w•orkk and'at home TheofCtce atmosptiere is four times as imporunt' as home expasvre for 1eaond•tund amoke; beratue the officesrttokedene dty,isfYrhigher:" A recent national surveyofoffiee twarkers, conducted by Honeywetl; re- Yeate4 that 67 percettuallbo poor ven- tilation a problem and isafd they had' ' diffictiltydoutg theitwork't>eeauseof . the air quality in their offices. ' Women are at greater'risk, this and a other studies show. They are eoncen, trated'ih bwer-paying jobs K•Ith,less mobility; shared space and: poorer air quality, and they report:high job-relat, ed etress from their dual bomeauwi- work demandi Office pollution, until the recent rash of n omnoking:ordinances, has been something of a no ntan'tland; Repace noted. "1 think the EPA has done a remarkable job cleaning up outdoorpollution.7LefVationallnstE tute for tJccvpationa1 Safety and Health and theCkcupationad Safety ' and Health Administniion aoaeea- tnteon industrial workplacrs,sothe. office worker has to take responsibll~ " ty for hiirtself." M ost of f ices do n't provi d e ade- quate ventilation, a move he tinked to the energy crisis of the 197Qt when outside air sources were'shut off to cut casts "We know this is fairly common. You can teJl by the stuffy air. Rhat'c' when tobacco smoke becomes unbear- ' able andisassoc:iated with carcinogen rtsk:" Calling stwkeless'ashtraysYyn- cy garbage.' Replace said'tnereasing', ventilation and controllin g pollutants offer the onty answerc'Butit would require?28 ait ges per:bourtore duce the risk ofchanfung eancer,ftnm tu bacco smoke to acceptable levels:'Ibat would create an enormous' wirtd- I storm"Ibeeurrentrequirementot the Amerimn 9ocietyof' Heating. Re- n frigent'ion and A9rconditioning Ehgi- neers, he said, isstightly less than oqe, air change per hour. 'Air cleaneis would eost i78',OQI) ~ persmoker6 roitcomesdownto5an,ning smoking. 7Ttisis also better for the emplayer herause it helps the nonsmoker, ithelps the smoker;who tmokesless or quits,' and It saves mon, ey.9everal ecanomic zLQdies show' 1 thaterrtokerataketwteetheamountiof, rdck leave" Glatttz, pointtttg to the 1,6iJDto7dc chemicals iniecond-hartd smoke'," spoke from lhis tuckground: At' I U(SF, h'e s an associite professor of: medicine, a tnember of the Cardia Vascular Research Institute and cha'ir• man of the hioengineeruig gradua'te, program. H'ealso is president of Ca& ! fornians for NonSmokes' Rights. "Public health policy is mind-bog- g1Png," he said-Tbere are hundreds of scientific palx.+rs on the danger' of"'tec - ond-hand smoke,"' but no government action has'been takea.ln contrast, oth,'I er contaminants have been tianned'af- ter "two or three studies" 7tiecigsrette antpker, he said; is af. ferted by the first gas and the concen- tra!teof'tara "Second-band smoke' is { different, not as hotand in much i smaller particles Spme think itsrar- cinogens are more readily ahwrbed, so it is more dangerous.' ' One major focus inthelttdoor Air Pollution Coalition's'threeyear work forbettet indoor alf quality has been to develop a standard, Patty ~.>,tutiala aakl'We:submitted a petition to the state OSHA, aslong for better ventilt- tionand lower expmsure limitaof'cott- taminants, andYt'agreed to look'at'minimum ventilation standar•ds"' The engineerutg soeiety..15HRAE, , Indoor pollution warming signals Here are the warninp, aip- nals of: indoor air polJution,i according to Prevention map• azine: 6/'ucous,membrane trrit'a- tian t Eye irritation 1 WbadAChe ~ t]dor' $kin irritation and rash ~ Sinus congestion Cough Sone,ttuoat' Sfiortness of IMealh Abnormal taste Dizziness Fatigue Nausea NRteexilnp and I hypersensi- tivity, -0.a 03

t• shesafd, ntrw basaminimunatan- dard requiring 5 catbic feet perminuh of'fiesh outside air fn a building whereamoking isnYpermltted and7n cubic feet,per minute where thereis atnoking. "i7ie society is now consider Ing revi5ing this uith a higher level be cause of othercontaminants besides amoke- pollution from the occu- pants themselves, the furnishings and i eqµipment;" After workers moving fnto a new taath building:became sick, the state arch itect's of f ice check ed and' f'o u nd: serious'ventIIat'ion probletns'lt now hasa'bakeout' program," Quinlan aaid, A series of tests for contaminants are run.'1Ttere is a period of high beat and'the building 1s flushed with out+ side air. Thiseliminates many,of the toxic gas prablems The practice is be- ing copied'in same private buildings. Today's new sealed buildings re• quire increased cooperation by archi• I tects, buildors, ittterior, ddesigners and I mechanical engineers, noted Marsha Ra!cklkk; interior designer with the gb ant f um, of Skidmo r0. (?t+•ing; and MerrilL Thete is concern aboutmaterials and ventilation. Some toxic materials give of f gas quickiy, so by the ttrne the lruiltliog is ready; theyare no longer toxia: Some give off gas Later.'IAere are many new man-made'products, and sometimes combinations cause problenm Basinlly„na standards are set now. but l seaatricterb aontrolt in thefuture:" Some of'the tiRht'building syn, drome vtct ims 4 ttrn u p in t he Occu pr tionaf and Environmental Medicine Clinic headed by i1r, Robert Hartison at UCSF: lh evaluating and'treatiing patients with work-related injuries and 9tlneses. Harrison aaid,'A signifi, caat percent;at:lea4.'10 percenl,ara related'ta the tight'building syndrome or indoor air pollution. "TpLt hasFieea gtowing intLie IysE two or three years bewca use of cotr strttction to oan.serve energy with whr daws that wontopen.7lte ventilation k not always adequate, attd!the mate- k tia1s give off low4evei toxic chemi- pls" A rash of complaints about: a new Bay Area o f fice buDlf in g last sumrner I kdtoabuildingstudy.'ILeairlevels ofchemirals'were found to be below CLSHA'ceilings, but they were high. I enough enough,tocause persictent, lingering irritation from a combina- tion of'4uttms from materials and ven' ttlation. subaeqNent changes were' made in the building's ventilation sys tem The clinic (phone 6G6184U, in oper. I ation since last ]uly; ks open to the puls lic. and Harrison is available to answer questions. More evalUations are done at San : I_FranciscoGeAerai Nospital,wtere I)n, (harles Becker heads theOccupation- al'13ealth Clinie {92139814 In San Francisco, the antisnwldn g ordiaance is `going grrat," saidla, spectnr Paul6cb-aabacber of 1Tie . City's environmental health offiee. In , tts year of'operation, he has reeeived 1'90 complaints, out of 102,q00 work- places'We tiad'one administrative hearing to resolve a case: lVobodyhmt gone to the district aif o[ney, nobody bas been taken to court TTe worst, 1 probLem waa misunderstanding by big coitpanies, but they have come into line. It's a selfenforcing ordinance. We have w have acomplaltttbeforr we can act" Glantz pointed out that ?;4 million workers in California are now covered bynonsmokers` righc,, 7fietias Ange- les law v utt into eSfect inmid,.ApriL There are workplace smoking bans ia San Diego, San Iase; Palo Alto. (';Lper- tSno, Mountain View and atSianfocd University: Other legal bansare In the works from New, York to POarida. "At, a recent health coof erence," Glarnlz said, `it was predicted that 10 yeans f irom now, no one will smoke at: wock;prinpiutes.' V . ~' 3°f3