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 Your Carpet's Dirty Little Secret A national report on household dust turns up dangerous toxins in NY homes.
by Lauren Newkirk Maynard, Last September, on a sunny afternoon, I stood in the middle of my living room with dust motes swirling around me, wrestling with a fat bag of dust lodged in the vaccum cleaner. A common domestic chore, to be sure, but I was on a mission. In moments the bag of dust would be handed over to the Western New York arm of New York's Citizens Environmental Coalition (CEC), a statewide environmental organization. CEC eventually overnighted my three month's worth of dust bunnies to be tested for hazardous, potentially life-threatening chemicals--man-made materials that prior studies already show are accumulating in the environment and in our bodies. Needless to say, I was very excited to see the results, this being the stuff I'd been inhaling every day for the past few years. However, in the final report released last Tuesday by the Safer Products Project, household detritius from ten homes in California, Maine, Michigan, New York, Orgeon and Washington received a thorough laboratory work-up, and the results were disturbing, if not altogether surprising. According to its authors, the study, entitled "Sick of Dust: Chemicals in Common Products a Needless Health Threat in Our Homes," is the first of its kind in the U.S. to examine several specific toxins--most of which are found in household products we use every day. Ten homes (including mine) across NY state--Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, NYC, and Long Island--were tested, and their dust was averaged into several composite samples. Six classes, or categories, of toxins proven to harm the reproductive and immune systems in animal tests were included, and all six were found in varying amounts. In lay terms, these six chemical classes--phthalates, pesticides, alkylphenols, brominated flame retardants, organotins and perfluorinated compounds-- refer to highly hazardous compounds. In turn, these compounds are used in mass quantities to produce cosmetics, building materials, furniture, carpets, cookware, electronics, plastic toys, diapers, pest control products, and household cleaners, among many other consumer products. Even during normal use of these items, chemicals still leach out of or escape into the air and dust in our homes. "Our testing shows that home is where the harm is," says Michael Schade, CEC's WNY director. "Our homes should be safe sanctuaries for our families, not the repository for the chemical industry's poisons." Of the six chemical classes tested for, phthalates were found in the largest quantities in the dust samples. Phthalates--80 to 90 percent of which are used to produce polyvinyl chloride, or PVC--have been linked to reproductive problems in adults, and asthma and other respiratory problems in children. It doesn't help that most of us--especially those of us in colder climates, spend a majority of our time indoors and in prolonged exposure to these substances. The report states that most of us in North America spend 69-90 percent of our time indoors. Especially vulnerable to even miniscule amounts of these toxins are developing fetuses, children and the elderly. Many of these chemicals are considered "persistent," meaning that they are not easily broken down by our bodies or in the environment; the ones that do break down are still released in such large amounts by the products around us that they are always present--in the environment around us, and also in breast milk, blood, urine, and organs like the liver. (Children's risk from dustborne contaminants, the report says, may be up to 40 times higher than that of adults.) The Safer Products Project study advocates granting stronger chemical regulating power to state governments, rather than relying on federal action or, as is currently the case in most situations, voluntary self-policing by the chemical industry. "Blame must be placed squarely on the shoulders of the U.S. regulatory system, which allows dangerous chemicals to be put into consumer products, does not require even minimal safety testing for the majority of chemicals currently in use, and has virtually no prohibitions in place to reduce exposure to chemicals known to cause harm," the study says. Manufacturers are taking notice; the report recognizes Shaw Industries, Inc., Ikea, Herman Miller, and Dell Computer Corporation for taking steps to phase out phthalates, flame retardants and other harmful chemicals from their products. The report also stresses that consumers take an active role in reversing the damage by purchasing natural pesticides, alternatives to vinyl products (see www.greenpeace.org.au/pvc) and carpets, furniture and electronics without brominated flame retardants (BFRs). For a list of other product alternatives, more information on the tested chemicals' effects on humans and the environment, and updates on this study, visit the Safer Product Project Web site at www.safer-products.org, or the CEC's site at www.cectoxic.org. Here in Buffalo, the Common Council passed a December 2004 resolution to phase out the purchase of products containing extremely toxic chemicals known as "persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemicals" (PBTs), including toxic flame retardants, mercury, and dioxin. They have a year to develop and implement the plan. Also, there is legislation pending in Albany to ban pharmaceutical uses for a pesticide called lindane, and PVC flooring purchased in New York is not eligible for the statewide Green Building Tax Credit Initiative. In a 2003 statement on PVC regulation, Paul Bogart of the Healthy Building Network seemed to sum up this current study's ongoing mission to elimnate all toxic chemicals in consumer products. "There's nothing green about vinyl. It's a highly toxic product that contaminates our homes, bodies and the environment. Other states should take note of New York's victory and implement policy changes." Schade agrees with Bogart and this latest study that more should be done at the state level. "In the absence of federal action, we are calling on the Governor to fully implement the brominated flame retardant phase out bill passed by the NY legislature last year. The law mandates the creation of a state task force on flame retardant safety, which, seven months after the law's passage, has yet to be convened."
For follow up information and an interview with Mike Schade, WNY Director of NY's Citizens Environmental Coalition, check the Artvoice Weblog. |
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