Sick building syndrome was brought to the forefront of public awareness in 1984 when The World Health Organization report acknowledged it as a very real illness with a very distinct reason for its occurrence. The general complaints of thousands of people affected by this illness were growing louder and could no longer be ignored. A new illness was about to have a name and a reason attached to it. Sick building syndrome was being uncovered.
The health organization was now acknowledging that the air people were being exposed to within their homes and workplaces was poisoning them. Up to thirty percent of all newly renovated, or newly built homes, and offices had the ability to cause a strange new form of illness to the people who spent time within them.
So what exactly is sick building syndrome, where did it originate from, and why was it suddenly making its appearance so glaringly obvious within what previously had been thought to be healthy offices, schools, and homes?
It appears that the problem of creating unhealthy buildings actually started with the 1973 oil embargo and the resulting oil crisis. With oil shortages being threatened worldwide the price of oil raised dramatically. In efforts to conserve oil stocks, new building standards were put in place to insure that buildings would be as energy efficient, as they could possibly be.
Newly constructed and renovated homes, offices, and schools, would follow standards set out to insure that they would be much more airtight. It was believed that this move would have buildings requiring less heating, and cooling costs, so they would therefore be as energy efficient as they could possibly be. But these new standards rather than being of benefit during this crisis period, instead served to trap bacteria and other pollutants within these buildings. These trapped contaminants then had the opportunity to multiply and rise to dangerous levels. It was these contaminants which were causing the people who came in contact with them to become ill.
In the early 1900's and throughout the mid 1900's building standards required 15 cubic feet of fresh air per minute per person for appropriate ventilation within a building. This amount was reduced to a mere 5 cubic feet of air per minute per person when the new energy conservation measures were implemented in the 1970's. The people who lived and worked within these newly renovated or newly built buildings began complaining of a variety of symptoms. For most of those individuals who were initially exposed, their symptoms alleviated somewhat upon leaving the affected building, but for many their symptoms lasted for lengthy periods after the initial exposure.
The symptoms of sick building syndrome include headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, cough, dizziness, nausea, dry itchy skin, skin rashes, eye irritation, nose irritation, skin irritation, difficulty breathing, difficulty concentrating and difficulty dealing with odors.
Asbestos, lead dust, formaldehyde, radon gas, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, pet dander, mildew, mold, dust mites, bacteria, second hand smoke, and other indoor pollutants were accumulating with buildings, and making people sick! Common household products and furnishings were releasing invisible and deadly gases into the air. Bacteria and molds were multiplying.
Even the homes themselves were contributing to the indoor pollution levels. Items such as carpets, cleaning products, paint, varnish and glues that were stored within the home, or used in its construction, were now releasing their components into the air around them. Worse yet these chemicals no longer had any way of being diffused outward and so they simply combined with the multitude of other indoor pollutants as they developed.
In 1984 the World Health Organization released an official report on the possible symptoms and causes of sick building syndrome. In 1989 the "American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers" revised it's building standards to encompass a wide range of situations. There would once again be a minimum allowable of 15 cubic meters of fresh air per minute per person, and the amount of ventilation would increase in offices, schools and smoking establishments.
If your home or workplace was built during the mid to late 1970's, or sometime during the 1980's, you may want to investigate it's ventilation standards. Buildings built under this code are still very much in use today, but even more frightening is the realization that any building, regardless of the year in which it was built could still have sick building syndrome.
Storage of paints and pesticides, use and storage of household cleaning products, and the breakdown of the materials used in the construction of buildings all contribute to indoor pollution levels. Radon gas is now listed as the second leading cause of lung cancer and this odorless gas could be present in your home. Carbon monoxide poisoning within the home still makes headlines on the evening news. Could your home be poisoning you.
Have your home tested for radon gas, install a carbon monoxide detector, and keep a window in your home open an inch throughout the summer, winter, fall and spring. Be safe.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_building_syndrome
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/sbs.html
http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/sick-building- syndrome-1/2#causes&symptoms
http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.315952/k.4 FD/Indoor_Air_Pollution.htm