Tobacco Documents Online

, Burson•Marsteller March~ 2'9, 1992 TO Tom Borelli FROM John :.encel RE Indoor Air ?roposaL/Background COPY Tom Humber A review of congressional hearings and news media coverage suggests there :s signifi~cant legislative interest in passage of an indoor air law, and a media appetite for stories on how bad indoor air may be. There also is a large constituency that stands-to be rewarded with stricter indoor air regulation, either as evidence of activist success, or the sale of services and equipment to improve indoor air quality. There are scores, perhaps hundreds of busi~ness organizations, and hundreds more individuaL--small businesses nationwide, with an interest and stake in legislative action. Much more could be done to raise the issue's, visibility. While ETS and source control generally are subtexts of the issue, the i~ndoor-air constituency's objective is improved ventilation along the lines of ASHRAE 89-62. As an ASHRAE 89-62 remedy coincides with one of our objectives it would serve our strategy if this constituency were better organized and guided toward a legislative solution. Such a strategy could present a conflict. There could be no guarantee that ETS would be ruled out by these organizations, regardless of how we would serve them as an agency. But it does appear that they have one big fish to fry -- better ventilation -- and it's our fish, too. The most likely organization to approach is the National Coalition on Indoor Air Quality, which is comprised of the National Air Duct Cleaners Association, the National Air Filtration Association and the Associated Air Balance Council. 14 The constituent associations, as a guess, probably represent~ manufacturers of electric air cleaning devices, filters, ~. thermostats, and may include some large companies, such as ~ Honeywell and Union Carbide. ~ t

-2- Notably, the same coalition is the sponsor of the Indoor Quality Conference and~ Expo in Tampa, April 30-May 2. Attached, for your review, is a sampling of some of the Air crganizations, businesses and individuals that we have turned -jo in our research.

ATTACHMENT LEGISLATIVE SITUATION REVIEW There are two indoor air bills. The Senate bill, sponsored by Majority Leader Mitchell, is generally research-oriented. The House bill, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Rennedy, D-Mass., would fund research but includes a number of regulatory provisions, including the mandating of technical standards for ventilation. Some observers, in the press, think the mandatory provisions are working against passage. The adminstration opposes legislation. EPA says it is hard at work on the issue, and OSHA contends it has sufficient authority to act and is hard at work on developing a policy. Some industry groups, all the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) industry organizations, a wide range of air quality experts, and most unions support mandatory standards and a ventilatilon -- technological -- solution for resolving indoor air quality problems. Of course, retrofitting and updating some four million commercial buildings nationwide is a lucrative business opportunity, if they can win a mandate through legislation. At this point, improved ventilation systems would be mandated for new construction and renovation projects -- at best -- and Kennedy's provision for this is being hotly contested. The organizations that do not rule out source control include the Consumer Federation of America, which testified that a federal indoor air quality law should include a federal ban on smoking in the workplace.and public places, and the American Lung Association. Private groups opposed to mandatory provisions include the National Environmental Development Association, an association of large American industrial companies such as Allied Signal and AT&T, and organizations representing the owners and operators of commercial and residential buildings: Building Qwners and Managers Association International, National Apartment Association, National Association of Industrial and Office Parks, National Association of Realtors, National Multi-Housing Council, National Realty Committee, International Council of Shopping Centers. ASSOCIATIONS, GROUPS AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS (AIA) -- AIA Environmental Committee, founded and chaired by William McDonough, is concerned with indoor air issues.

- 2- AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEATING, REFRIGERATION AND AIR CONDITIONING ENGINEERS (ASHRAE) -- Sets standards for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The group's ASHRAE 1989-62 standard is being mulled for inclusion in House legislation as the national performance measure for building ventilation. BUSINESS COUNCIL ON INDOOR AIR -- Favors improved ventilation according to testimony before the House Education and Labor subcommittee on health. In the hearing record, chairman Waxman commends the council's Paul Cammer for a "constructive attitude...You see that there is a problem and we ought to do something about it...we hope to work with you and not against you on these issues, because we think it makes sense." NATIONAL COALITION ON INDOOR AIR QUALITY -- This outfit is sponsoring the Indoor Air Quality Conference and Expo in Tampa, April 30-May 2. The coalition is comprised of the National Air Duct Cleaners Association, the National Air Filtration Association and the Associated Air Balance Council. NATIONAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE (NEMI) -- NEMI certifies contractors and tradesmen for new construction and retrofitting of HVAC systems, and trains sheet metal contractors in indoor air quality and energy conservation technologies. Possibly associated with SMACNA. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION (NEDA) -- NEDA has formed a sub-group on this issue, the Total Indoor Environmental Quality Coalition. NEDA's constituency includes such firms as Allied Signal, Anheuser Busch, AT&T, Digital, Chevron. A poorly written article in the Austin, Texas, American-Statesman, suggests the group is opposed to federal legislation on grounds that more science is needed to document the problem. The article also suggests that the group is opposed to source control. This could be as the companies products may be singled out as causes of indoor air problems. Another reason for their opposition may be that these large companies have thousands of facilities which may need upgrading. This group needs more investigation of their position and composition. NATIONAL SAFE WORKPLACE INSTITUTE -- Concerned with a range of workplace safety issues, including indoor air. Joseph Kinney, executive director, wrote a letter to NIOSH in ~ October, 19'91, urging an $8.6 million federal study of the ~ effect of SSS on workers in buildings in Atlanta, Chicago, ~ New York and San Francisco. w ~ 10

-3- NORTH'AMERICAN HEATING AND AIR CONDITION'ING WHOLESALERS (NHAW) -- Jim,Truesdell, president of Brauer Supply Inc., a St. Louis HVAC'••+holesaier, chairs NHAW's governmental affairs committee. In a November, 1991, article in The Distributor, he said the federal legislation is a challenge and opportunity wita the opportunity being that NHAW members, like SMACNA's, will no doubt benefit from upgrading the ventilation in commercial buildings nationwide. SHEET METAL & AIR CONDITIONING CONTRACTORS NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (SMACNA) -- SMACNA testified before the House Education and Labor subcommittee on health (Waxman) that the leading cause of poor indoor air quality is the construction of sealed buildings to reduce energy consumption in buildings. SMACNA favors improved design, maintenance and operation of ventilation systems and adoption of the ASHRAE 1989-62 standard. Stanley Kolbe is SMACNA director of political and governmental affairs. THERMAL INSULATION MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION (TIMA) -- TIMA's Air Handling Committee, chaired by Pete Lawson of Knauf Fiber Glass, avers that properly installed systems can improve air quality while holding the line on energy costs. TIMA's phrase for the issue is "indoor environment guality." COMPANIES Following are just a few examples of the companies and principals identified through media monitoring that are working on indoor air quality, scaring the wits out of building owners and occupants, and flogging their products and services. The articles tacitly establish the indoor-air businessman as an expert. There are probably hundreds of these companies nationwide with a stake in this issue. BOELTER ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANTS -- Park Ridge, Ill., (near Chicago), with certified industrial hygienists Raymond Deibert, Catherine Simmons, Gary Crawford on staff. LEGEND TECHNICAL SERVICES, INC. -- St. Paul, Minnesota, company touts its "multidisplinary" indoor air team to diagnose indoor air quality problems. President is Charles Lane. NATIONAL AIR FILTERS -- Raleigh, N.C., Jim Sloan, president; pushes issue in his area to raise visibility for his company's products and services. UN'ISOURCE -- This Fort Worth, Texas, company is positioned as a remediator of indoor air quality problems.

-4- HONEYWELL -- Commercial Buildings Group planned to have indoor air specialists assigned to 80 field offices by the end'of 1991. Diagnostic team formed first in 1986. The division's marketing and sales manager is John Mahoney. INDIVIDiJALS-LAWYERS C. JAYE BERGER -- :vew York City lady lawyer; specialist in building construction, real estate and environmental law; plans to publish a book this year on hazardous substances in buildings. Iin an article in Tri-State Real Estate she says there have been few SBS cases in the courts, and where they have been broughit, they have been settled before trial. She cautions that anyone associated with a building may be sued if there is a perceived SBS problem as the court may eventually take the view that the building, taken as a whole, is a product. JOHN T. BURNETT (Haynesworth, Baldwin, Johnson and Greaves), author of an expository piece appearing in the October, 1991, editions of Southern Textile News and Hosiery News. RANDALL J. DEAN, Santa Monica, California (Chapman and Glucksman); author of an article in November, 1991, in For the Defense, the journal of the Chicago-based National Association of Defense Trial Lawyers. Dean theorizes that anyone associated with a building where SBS is found may be sued with the most dangerous plaintiff being a business located in the building who claims damages as a result of reduced employee productivity. However, Dean says it is extremely difficult at this point to prove in court what exactly causes a perceived SBS problem. As an alternative, he says plaintiffs will probably be relying on epidemiological studies to simplify and support their assertions in court. Another problem for plaintiffs, he says, is that there are no federal standards and scant legal precedent to guide a case. Meanwhile, insurance companies may bear the brunt of liability judgements, he says. (Dean's article also was used in the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration News, November, 1991, edition.) INDIVIDUALS--EXPERTS Following are some of the experts identified through the media monitoring. They are in addition to the regulars -- i.e., Robertson, Samet, Silberman, Woods, et. al.

-5- DR. ALAN HEDGE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY -- Associate professor Hedge, billed~ as "a renowned authority on indoor air quality," in a Business wire news release on the results of a study he did for a company called CenterCore, Inc. Hedge's surprise finding, was that the CenterCore Airflow 2000 system dramatically improved indoor air quality in an unnamed sick building in an~unnamed city in somewhere, U.S.A. DR. EDWARD NARDELL -- Nardell, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, is an expert on airborne infectious disease, of -which, he says, people are the primary source. In the August, i991, edition of American Review of Respiratory Diseases, Nardell tells of an outbreak of tuberculosis in an unidentified building where 27 of 47 workers were infected by one 30-year-old employee. The infection rate was as high in distant parts of the building as in the immediate area of the lone, infected worker who brought the disease in the building. _ In addition, the following were among the experts who testified before the Waxman subcommittee: o Anthony V. Nero, indoor environment program, Lawrence Berkely Laboratory, University of California o Barry Scott, Thomas Jefferson University -- Philadelphia, associate director, Environmental Health and Safety. o John Spengler, department of environmental health, Harvard o Harriett A. Burge, associate research scientist, University of Michigan Medical School o Mary Ellen Fise, Consumer Federation of America