Some Cures for Sick Buildings

I was glad to see ''Is your office killing you?'' (Cover Story, June 5). American business and homebuilders have to wake up to the realities of indoor air pollution. As an architect, I am constantly thwarted by building owners wanting to keep the supposed ''first costs'' low, even though it has been clearly shown by numerous studies that a healthier environment is a more productive one. The payback on an investment of facility enhancement is nothing compared with lack of productivity, disability claims, employee turnover, and retraining.

My wife contracted multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) from an improperly installed furnace that put her in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank. I quickly learned a lot about environmental allergens. Regular medical doctors are mostly clueless about MCS, but so-called alternative medicines have brought my wife 95% back from the brink of death.

Better design does lead to better profits, as your annual architectural awards program has clearly shown. The request for nontoxic materials in home design is increasing exponentially, but I have to struggle to convince business owners. Corporations would be smart to do the right thing now before they are mandated to do so.

David E. Christensen
Christensen Design Management
Bellingham, Wash.


Your story on sick buildings was well researched and written. I see scores of patients yearly with injuries from toxic chemical exposures, which are denied by many as being ''all in their head.'' The BP Amoco disclosure of chem-lab risk sets a new standard for industry.

If the bottom line truly counts, recognizing safety and environmental risks and preventing or remedying them just makes sense. How sad it is that, in many cases, it takes an order from Workers' Compensation judges to get injured patients into our Biodetoxification Program--when the treatment is so cost-effective and can put people back to work rather than on permanent disability.

The economic and personal physical loss from sick-building syndrome is staggering, and an open and receptive approach could be a win-win situation for everyone.

Allan D. Lieberman, M.D.
Center for Occupational &
Environmental Medicine
North Charleston, S.C.


In your story, I looked for but could not find anything on modern commercial airplanes. They are ''sick buildings'' too, with many parallels with stationary buildings. They recirculate the air in the cabin to save energy and money. They have the accumulation of ages and Lord-knows-what in their ventilating systems. And, they do a great job of immersing all the passengers in a mixture of everyone else's effluents and ''bugs'' for hours.

Paul Shewmon
Columbus, Ohio


After recently being diagnosed with multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and having to switch from a corporate office to working at home, I read your story with great interest. While I commend Michelle Conlin on a fine journalistic endeavor, I find it surprising that she failed to mention a major threat to indoor air quality that comes from the multitude of employees who wear fragrances and other chemically based grooming products such as hair spray.

In fact, most perfumes are petroleum based and contain some of the same toxic chemicals mentioned, such as formaldehyde and benzene. Many of my symptoms were brought on by the widespread use of perfumes, colognes, and hair sprays. To people with MCS, inhaling these fragrances is like second-hand smoke for others. Common symptoms are headache, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, disorientation, inability to concentrate, confusion, and depression. As a testimony to this personal assault on air quality, the Canadian province of Nova Scotia recently banned the use of all fragrances and chemical hair products in public places. There is also a small group of corporations in the U.S. that have banned the use of fragrances in the workplace.

While working on corporate management and fellow employees to change their ways, there are other strategies that may be helpful. Taking frequent breaks outside, staying away from toxic areas (such as copying machines, renovations, and new furniture) and avoiding heavily scented people are just some. High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-based air purifiers and ozone generators, some so small that they can be worn around your neck, can also greatly improve air quality.

Ian Greenberg
Atlanta

Will Other Companies Adopt 3M's High Standards?

I applaud 3M's decision to be proactive and protect people, animals, and the environment from the building effects of perfluorooctane sulfonates (''3M's big cleanup,'' Environment, June 5). It is a rare company that has taken the steps to remove a harmful chemical from the market and be a good corporate citizen. While 3M may forsake short-term profits, as consumers we need to ensure that over the long term companies such as 3M are rewarded for their actions.

Will 3M's customers move quickly to replace these potentially harmful products, particularly in areas such as food packaging where consumers continue to ingest these chemicals? How quickly can the packaging people at McDonald's and Taco Bell change their clamshells, french-fry bags, and wraps? How quickly can Orville Redenbacher, Weaver popcorn, and Pillsbury change their popcorn bags? These packaging actions need to be just as swift as 3M's to protect the consumer from further chemical buildups in the body. 3M has set the bar high in protecting consumers.

Michael Nowak
Hilbert, Wis.

Paying Artists for Music on the Net

I write in response to ''Download this!'' (Entertainment, May 29). Chuck D is right that a small artist can be accessible to millions of people through the Internet. Many of our orders do come via the Internet.

Lars Ulrich of Metallica is also correct. Just because music on the Internet is readily available and accessible, it doesn't mean that the entire concept of intellectual property goes out the window. There is no reason that, as accessible as a song might be, there be no accounting for its creators. The technology exists and is available--like Liquid Audio. Music is a gift. A gift that is taken without cost is less appreciated in my book. The Internet is a phenomenal breakthrough for all artists. Their music is their ''product.'' They can reach more people with it, but ultimately, this is their source of livelihood and that must be respected.

Vincent MacDermot
President
Kilmarnock Records/
MacDermot Music
Staten Island, N.Y.

Daimler and Chrysler: You Saw the Crash Coming

The DaimlerChrysler merger fiasco is a textbook case of culture clash from the get-go (''Taken for a ride,'' Book Excerpt, June 5). Time and again, the values and customs of the two companies collided head-on, exacerbated by the incompatibility of the CEOs. The debacle was so predictable--yet the merger proceeded anyway. But that's what happens when ego trumps reason.

Walt Gardner
Los Angeles

Please Don't Call Us ''Grease Monkeys''

One reason the aviation industry is having a tough time attracting people to careers as aviation technicians is that the image is not stellar (''A wrench in the airline works,'' Up Front, May 29).

Pilots get all the glory--and the money--but they for darn sure can't fly anywhere without technicians. We aren't grease monkeys--the term used in the story to describe aviation technicians--and never have been. Most aviation technicians endured two years of tough schooling, and those who work for airlines must attend regular training sessions. Next time you're flying at 31,000 feet, count your lucky stars that the thin aluminum tube in which you are hurtling through the air at 500+ mph has been inspected and maintained by the world's best technicians.

Matt Thurber
Aviation Maintenance Magazine
Potomac, Md.

Free Trade Has Its Share of Hypocrisy, Too

I am a 50-year United Auto Workers member, now retired. Half of that time I was on the union staff. There is some accuracy in your criticism in ''Labor should drop its hypocrisy on China'' (Editorials, May 29). But throughout the debate, labor leaders made it clear that our opposition was based on the need to protect jobs and standards here and on our need for solidarity and mutual support with workers in other countries.

Contrast labor's claims with those of supporters of unrestricted free trade, who trumpeted throughout the debate that trade is the best, if not the only, hope for democracy and human rights in China. Some might call this claim hypocritical. It is worse: It is a reflection of the almost religious belief that the free market is the best and only source of good in the economy. The free market can produce good results; it can produce bad ones. Its morality is neutral.

Let me recall for you the words of columnist Finley Peter Dunne's Mr. Dooley 100 years ago in Chicago, instructing Mr. Hennessey on labor and management and the open shop:

''But,'' said Hennessey, ''these open-shop [employers] ye mention say they are for unions if properly conducted.''

''Shure,'' said Mr. Dooley, ''if properly conducted...and how would they have them conducted? No strikes, no rules, no contracts, no scales, hardly any wages, and darn few members.''

Some things stay pretty constant. Another name for the unrestricted free market is the law of the jungle. This does not work out for the benefit of workers. The China fight was one battle in the struggle against unrestricted globalization.

Michael W. Kerwin
Detroit

''3M's big cleanup'' (Environment, June 5, 2000)

''3M's big cleanup'' (Environment, June 5) should have reported that detection techniques in 1997 turned up evidence of organic fluorines in human blood at levels below 50 parts per billion. Earlier tests were sensitive to just 500 parts per billion.