breadwinner & breadbaker: - hazards of office. work

I

'BREADWINNER & BREADBAKER:

HAZARDS OF OFFICE. WORK~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RELATIONS LIBRAR

MAR 1 2 184UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA

-§EfIELE

LABOR OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PROGRAMmINSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSUNIVERSITY0 OF [ALIFORNIAFBERKELEY(

July, 1981

II

Facts onWomen WorkersU.S. Department of LaborOffice of the SecretaryWomen's Bureau1980

1. A majority of women work because of economic need. Nearly two-thirds of allwomen in the labor force in 1979 were single, widowed, divorced, or separated,or had husbands whose earnings were less than $10,000 (in 1978).

2. About 43 million women were in the labor force in 1979; they constituted morethan two-fifths of all workers.

3. Sixty percent of all women 18 to 64--the usual working ages-were workers in1979, compared with 88 percent of men. Fifty-one percent of all women 16 andover were workers. Labor force participation was highest among women 20 to24.

4. The median age of women workers is 34 years.

5. Fifty-three percent of all black women were in the labor force in 1979 (5.0million); they accounted for nearly half of all black workers.

6. Forty-seven percent of Spanish-origin women were in the labor force in March1979 (2.0 million); they accounted for 39 percent of all Spanish-origin workers.

7. Women accounted for nearly three-fifths of the increase in the civilian laborforce in the last decade--about 13 million women compared with more than 9million men.

8. More than one-fourth of all women workers held part-time jobs in 1979.

9. In 1977 the average woman could expect to spend 27.6 years of her life in thework force, compared with 38.3 years for men.

10. The more education a woman has the greater the likelihood she will seek paidemployment. Among women with 4 or more years of college, about 2 out of 3were in the labor force in 1979.

11. The average woman worker is as well educated as the average man worker; bothhave completed a median of 12.6 years of schooling.

12. The number of working mothers has increased more than tenfold since theperiod immediately preceding World War II, while the number of working womenmore than tripled. Fifty-five pecent of all mothers with children under 18 years(16.6 million) were in the labor force in 1979; 45 percent of. mothers withpreschool children were working.

13. The 6.0 million working mothers 1/ with preschool children in 1979 had 7.2million children under age 6, compared with 5.1 million working mothers with 6.1million children under 6 years of age in 1974.

14. The unemployment rate was lowest for adult white men (20 and over) andhighest for young black women (16 to 19) in 1979:

Adults Percent Teeagers Percent

White men 3.6 White men 13.9White women 5.0 White women 13.9Hispanic men 5.7 Hispanic men 17.4Hispanic women 8.9 Hispanic women 21.3Black men 9.1 Black men 34.0Black women 10.8 Black women 39.2

15. Women workers are concentrated in low paying dead end jobs. As a result, theaverage woman worker earns only about three-fifths of what a man does, evenwhen both work full time year round. The median wage or salary income ofyear-round full-time workers in 1978 was lowest for minority-race 2/ women--$8,996.- For white women it was $9,578; minority men, $12,885; and white men,$16,194.

The median earnings of full-time year-round women farm workers were $2,360;private household workers, $2,830; sales workers, $7,644; anc clerical workers,$9,158.

16. Fully employed women high school graduates (with no college) had less incomeon the average than fully employed men who had not completed elementaryschool--$9,769 and $10,474, respectively, in 1978. Women with 4 years ofcollege also had less income than men with only an 8th grade education-$12,347and $12,965, respectively.

17. Among all families, about I out of 7 was maintained by a woman in 1979compared with about I out of 10 in 1969; 40 percent of black families weremaintained by women. Of all women workers, about I out of 6 maintained afamily; about I out of 4 black women workers maintained a family.

I/ Includes never married mothers.

2/ "Minority races" refers to all races other than white. Blacks constituteabout 90 percent of persons other than white in the United States. Spanish-originpersons are generally included in the white population; about 93 percent of theSpanish-origin population is white.

- 2 -

18. Among all poor families, half were maintained by women in 1979; about 3 out of4 poor black families were maintained by women. In 1969 about one-third (35percent) of all poor families were maintained by women and 51 percent of poorminority 3/ families were maintained by women.

19. It is frequently the wife's earnings which raise a family out of poverty. Inhusband-wife families in 1979, 14.8 percent were poor when the wife did notwork; 3.8 percent when she was in the labor force. Of all wives who worked in1979, the median contribution was more than one-fourth of the total familyincome. Among those who worked year round full time, it was nearly two-fifths. Among black families, the median contribution of working wives wasone-third of the total family income.

20. Women were 80 percent of all clerical workers in 1979 but only 6 percent of allcraft workers (women were about 3 percent of all apprentices as of December1978); 62 percent of service workers but only 43 percent of professional andtechnical workers; and 63 percent of retail sales workers but only 25 percent ofnonfarm managers and administratrators.

3/ Data on black families are not available for 1969.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census; U.S.Department of Health and Human Services (formerly Department of Health,Education, and Welfare), National Center for Social Statistics; U.S. Department ofLabor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Employment and Training Administration.

December 1980

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HIGH STRESS, LOW STRESS *

In 1977 the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health,NIOSH, examined the health records of 22,000 workers in 130 occupationsin Tennessee. Forty occupations had a higher than expected incidenceof stress-related disorders, and 12 of those were especially high, 13occupations had fewer stress-related disorders than expected.

The Top Twelve,in order: The Bottom Thirteen,(not in order):

-Laborer -Sewer Worker-Secretary -Checker, Examiner-Inspector -Stockhandler-Clinical Lab Technician -Craftsman-Office Manager -Maid-Foreman -Farm Laborer-Manager/Administrator -Heavy Equipment Operator-Waitress/Waiter -Freight Handler-Machine Operator -Child Care Worker-Farm Owner -Packer, Wrapper-Mine Operative -College or University Professor-Painter (not artist) -Personnel/Labor Relations

-Auctioneer/Huckster

StudyofHeartDiseasein.WomnenWorkers | * January 1979,NATIONALSAFETY NEWS

-Shows Risk Highe inotinlV.TMMyIt. .1 Te stuy. palis Inth m-uAte

S9taff Reporter of TMU WAU.STUZUJOUPJIA 1,3o".omm leialwoka.Womn cerial.worers~ ~~ fndige.As agroup,women contliuzeto en-wmn.wmn lrclwreswr~ares~i~akkepric al. caorkerssuc u

'Joy a lowe risk of having coronary heart alimbst twice as likely to develop c"oronaryclerks~~,~, ~~kety ~ ~ -diwse mta men.And going, to wrk- only d u~5astether ht-o leclaease nn g r that risk Ibr the womeLn (women) workersthe s fud. Abt.

or thanleclrica workr a vewst -e -npkj13% of the men t1e . of the women clericial rkers deiel-orm.l.~, a~~, -am stud

tidy dvlpdhatdise'ase sym6ptoms oedeatproblems durintg t1ie. eight y"ears* The woman clerks ~ ~ ii~. during the eight years of the study whie U l d WIth 5.%o the hsevelgaheart atack or related hrt problems 7.8% of te working women developed beart The men clecal wrer, moreovr, hadIng a beart Eack prrdated beatpro ems d ny 5.4 adtbeigher risk than men clerl worhave children aomthom are probbly work- ha_chheart proble. - ,,* t 10.6% u 5.8., v;u out of m nece xfr mp- There ee,,.boeiver. psycl glcaldif- The much higher rik among the womenpressed anger, have a nomapportv boss * g'rwomen experienced ckderical. wrker ocurred plmnt sillyand uneu aglgworrids tha ene atisfactltrorn .anog tks wmen clerks who had chil-fouaL ag-S;-X- mnin- - <t ~~ ;-athaneithearvr bdren. tb thao 25% of thie clerk-mothersThe d Vy of the hg risk of heart men." s. Suzanne. Hnei id Mn- developed heart problemiln thedeghtyeas

problemsamong woman clerks was made ning Fnelb of the beart Institute reported. -compadwith only &3% the, women In-federal wrph o be In 1 h womenal wer moresimil t t o Job.- -

follow theme aand Illitre ft~hnooswvsntermb ofag--~ ' -teallowr~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~jtbewt-Clas sca alt n2t°vnt d S'conomic pressures due to an Increaied.more than' women and M men. Their resive and ambitiousbehavio+ I "Economicessuresd to an incrteaim was to see Sfunemplmnt c d In contrast to previous studes, th new aseekemploymenteouldehthemboted womentoeewonw's isk of having heart t ch study found that the working woman who *searchers speculated. "Pressures associatedgenerally had child was at a higher risk of heart 'with a low socloeconomic states might then

The studyws carriedout amOng red- disease than eitber a singee woman or a explain the higher Incidence of coronarydents of FaMigbam Ms, whee the housewife with children. "Women who beart ds among working women with'governm 's National Heart, 1 d worked outside the home and had raised ichildren,"they sid. -:' '. VBloo Institute bas been flwing fates three or more children were twice as likelyof hu s of residents fr morthn t to develop coronary heart disease'as house- The study also found the women lercal.decadestryingto-tfr wve with X "= hIY sosbi- workers who did develop heart disease werecial andenopc ftors that to beat ties," the researchers said. Earlier studies more iDkely to suppress hostDity, that I, re--a±ta~ks.Bstweep '965 and 1967, the re- had indicated that single women h a main silent about their anger, to talk less

pdy l higher risk than women who had been or Pe w es,daao 5 im37*ktwmnwr marid potienbd to experien'ce fewer job

thatthehdualaxd ftiOEEmm#oa betmen aM 45 a lmfndings. suggest that the dualbr cedingeightye the eea roles of employment and raising a familyen kept trackf the peoples' hle&t a ,'my produce excessive demand on workingchest paV m orothesy oms oon- wom t

hea ,l..6,$ The risk was most pronounced among thein the stu*0y a wrigwoma wqoe oj4a eks sciprdwtfined A-Y e who had spent it least ha.i her women wor clerks, aS compared wth

adult]*li employed oud t* i either men orwomen w6rking as profession-Women who ~ spent ~ ~ ~ als, proprietor and m agers, maumalwo~~~~ ,b .,,

lei t-i aidt--ji ort

,the

,' ,e %>-.workers adptcutI4ew and servl& work-'~PloyaMsyesrsoutslde tbb'-" 1

Indoor Air Pollution Raisses lRisksFor People in New Office' Buildings

By JONATHAN KAUFMANstaff Reporter of THE WALLSTREErJOURNALEnergy conservation may- be hazardous

to your health. That's the conclusion of agrowing number of researchers looking intothe quality of air people breathe in homesand offices. In general, the experts say, thenewer the office building, the greater therisk.

For example, exposure to formaldehyde,carbon monoxide and other cbemicals andgasses can produce headaches, fatigue ?Lndeye and throat irritations. And if peoplesmoke in the office, the health risks increasesignificantly.

The problem is simple: In the interest ofconserving energy, contractors are building"tighter" offices and homes that reduce theflow of fresh air into a structure, thereby re-ducing the amount of energy needed to heatand cool it. An office in an old-fashioned'-leaky" building with windows thrown opento catch the breeze undergoes a completeexchange of air every hour or two. But ener-gy-efficient buildings with sealed windowsand heavy insulation may exchange air onlyonce every 10 hours."Tighter" Buildings

"Tighter" office buildinp keep out warmair in the summer and cool air in the winter.BSut they also trap a variety of noxiousfumes, including formaldehyde (used in aglue for wood-laminated desks and in cer-tain insulation products), radon (a radioac-tive substance present in concrete building

materialO), carbon monoxicie and particu-lates (from tobacco smoke), as well as othergasses emitted from wallpaper adhesivesand synthetic carpeting.

Although Americans spend about 70% of

ajee

oslosa

- I IL IA- &

their time indoors- either at home or work-most pollution research has focusRd onoutdoor air quality or on health and safetyhazards in factories. Scientists still don'tknow the scope and potential seriousness ofindoor pollution problems.

Such substances as radon and formalcle-hyde don't pose a health danger to peoplewho work in energy-efficient buildings-aslong as their offices have plenty of ventila-tion. Lst September, however, Itel discov-ered what can happen when ventilation isn'tadequate. Shortly after moving 150 peopleinto an energy-efficient building in PortWashington, N.Y., the company's manage-ment was flooded with reports from workerscomplaining of nausea, fadgue and dizzi-ness. The company had to evacuate its en-tire work force into trailers.Itel Makes Changes

"We finally traced the problem to a com-bination of cigaret smoke, formaldehydeand copier fumes that were coalescing in theair." says Mildred Martin. administrativeassistant for Itel's medical services division,which occupies the building. For about S5,-000 Itel Improved the ventiation system andmoved everyone back in, wIthout any com-plaints since.

Although extreme, the Itel example indi-cates the problems that poor air quality cancause. "UWe always thought people got'Monday morning sickness' because theydidn't like corning back to work," saysCraig Hollowell, director of the indoor air-quality program at Lawrence Berkeley Lab-oratory, Berkeley, Calif. "'We're now reaiiz-ing that it may be because they're cominginto an environment that's an irritation totheir system."

POffices are a sort of no man's land, saysPlease Turn to Pa.e 3X. Column 3

Continued From Page 27-lRchard Duffee, director of odor technologyat TRC Environmental Consultants Inc."'There is no federal agency that has partic-ular jurisdiction over Indoor work places,"he says. the way the Environmental Protec-tion Agency has jurisdiction over outdoor airquality or the Occupational Safety andHealth Administration regulates factories.

Even the standards that builders use todetermine how much ventilation an officeneeds are badly outdated. They were writtenin the 1930s, based on "acceptable" levels ofbody odor. "Nowadays people are takingbaths more often and using more deodor-ants," says R. David Flesh, a research di-rector- for Del Green Associates. an environ-mental conuting firm. t"So body odor is nolonger that much of a problem!" But suchsubstance as fornaldehyde do causetrouble. he says, and the 1930s body-odorstandards aren't effective in measuringthem.

That deficiency is beginning to be cor-rected. The American Society of Heating.Refrigerang and Air Conditioning Engi-neers Is draftng standards that will pre-scribe limits on the presence of formalde-hyde and other substances in office air. The

standards wil include a subjective test that,In the words of James Woods, a mechanicalengineering professor at Iowa State Univer-sity who's overseeing the revision, "will ba-sically say that if you put people in a spaceand it smells bad, there's a problem."

Despite the limited research on indoorair polution, scientists believe most Indoorair quality problems can be solved easily."There's no need to panic," says TRCs AMr.Duffee. "We can control these things simplyby Improving the ventilation. It's just aquestion of balacing the need to control theenvironment to save energy with the need tocontrol the enviroment to keep it healthyand safe."

But Mr. Duffee's optimism doesn't ex-tnd to cigaret smoke. ""The levels of parti-culate matter in office buildings whereIsmokdng Is allowed is 10 to 100 times higherthan the allowable limits -set for outsideair," he says. '"And where smoking is al-lowed, no amount of ventilation gets rid ofthat odor."

Besides making life uncomfortable fornonsmokers, cigaret smoke wastes energy.Mr. Duffee estimates that an office thatbans cigaret smoking can lower its ventila-tin rate by a factor of three to five-thereby cutting its energy cost-withouthurting air quality.

1I

Offit- Woskers Tel Legislative PanelOf Illnesses Due to Eiclosed Buildings

Unlaitd Pre Inten

SAN FRANCISCO -A joint stateegislative- audit committee met She said- her home-containedTuesday- to find out why new large '-jm4t of shelng~ andbuildings are making office cabinetry made of formadehyde-workerssick. -. containing particle board2 ^---The committee heard testimony "I wantto have children, but I'm

from exserts who verified there afraid,"'she told the committee."1was anindoor air pollution problem can't afford-to sell the:house at ato a housewife who said her newly- loss, but!I can't afford the $l5,Oowinsldate& home caused her- to $20,000 it ould take to repl allbecomeeseriously ill. t-h.f: - te cabinesand pullup the rugs."

"Researchers are now fnding Dr. Molly Cove of the National In-out a variety of pollutants are being sute for Occtupationl Safety andtrapped Inside the largely -sealed Health said M. Ouchida's ex-environment that can be created periencewas'tanisolatdonewth 'weatherstripping, lnsulcaws' a soaedoeothe conservtion measures," She sd she has treated patientsandoths.n for formaldehyde Irritation fromsaid .Aisemblyman Floyd.: MorL office buildings in San Francisco

chaimanotheommitee. -. and -was currently working toWorkers have complaine to the evaluate how widespread Indoor air

committee about headaches, lluonwanausea, diahrrea, insomnia, water- Office managers, the doctor said,ing eyes,,. sore throats and other were generally unresponsive to thesymptoms that often result in miss- medical complaints of employees.ing work,.said Mor, DrAlameda. -. - -_Craig- Hollowell, a Lawrence "tshr,t sals h

Berkeley, Laboratory scientist, said source," she said of pollution pro--the number of complaints has risen ""Andoftensharply over the last few years a baems. And en enges areasf a ttlevelled at the workers that they

combination of chemical-laden are hysterical or frritable." tbuildingymaterialsIs jotinedwith Dr. Cove said offiee air pollutionpoor ventilation standards whichi e

changed Et-in50years.,-̂buildings with re-irculating yen-As a result, he said,for-alniost O s fr-maldehyde released from particle mildtonyseromiurs,gl for-

board -and cigarette smoke mf

{Thertoms ~ ~ ~ ~~iarttsoki inetheseo

asbestos from ceiling tiles;_ carbon c$aetemok Isreyldi hsdioxide *from cumbustion; and a e oother gases such as sulfur dioxide teifd. '-and radon remain trapped inside of "Tecmiaon@1 thsofficesaandnhomes.d-. -~ pollutants and ever-present dust

ofingdcosandomes la reci

Priscilla Ouchida, a Sacrament h carrythe material evenhousewife-, testified -,-that *her de~ritelm, h ad-'ogineerhusband built a new home Oeo h rbesfcn hforhem'lastyear using every lgsaiecommittee -Is the fact

mergyconsrvingmeasre reoin- there are now state or federal. stan-niended -by the local utility. Win- dards. for. home and office pollution$owss were double-glazed and rbes.ol o nutilpowveather-stripped, walls and: ceil-Ings-heavily' insulated and alek f Sndrswhich now Oxlst inaround electrical outlets and.- pipes *t~OItflnandl an ould,

~~---~-~ haeproetedthe warkars' saidHowever,'-she said,- aiiost im-

mediately, after movingr- into .the-house' IWstOctober,,she bega.nhav-ingstingirgeyes%and amNre.throAt.'iThei-Lsymjgtoms then -;got -worse;'

she sa1d~- Including a dry skin-rashand inability to sleep despite chang-ing doctors and medical prescrip-tions.-,She>'also notiecd visitors tothe house-: having "similar- com-plaints-.,) m.. c-onAfter. read"ig about'the con-trovrers'y .-surrounding' -for-maldehyde'- foam. insulation inJanuary,- she said," she contactedthe joint legislative committee andinvestigators.-- tested her #home;They- fomd- formaldehyde-levelitwice-those permitted by- the stateinIdralwork spae sbesaid,

Cancer Risk inXerouChemical Hiri tedWASHINGTON, April 11 (AP) -Labo-

ratory tec.s have suggested that there isa possible cancer risk from long-term ex-posure to a chemical used in Xeronma-chines. In a response to the sts, theXerox Corporation said that it hadchanged theway the chemical was mu-factured.Company officials said that their own

tests had indicated there was no risk to-humans but that they were mingthechange in anabundance of caution.At issue is a chemical called nitropy-

rene, an element in some of the tonersused in the duplicating process.Tests done by researchers at the Ur.i-versity of Texas Medical Branch .Galveston found that nitropyrenes in

the toners cahsed genetic changes in bac-teria, generally asignal that a particularsubstance deservesfurther testing as apossible cancer-causing agent.Dr. Marvin Legator, one of the univer-

sityscientists invoived in the tests,saidthe potentialhuman hazrdwas unkrnwbut that "certainly one cjld worry aboutit for people working an eight-our day inunventilated copying areas."Xerox officials said their own tests

found that one-third of about a dozen dif-ferent types of tonersshowed "potent"mutagenic activity in Salmonella bacte-ria. But they said their studies had provided "increasing evidence" that the ad-verse effects would not be duplicated inhumans.Horace Becker, Xerox vice president,said that the company had ordered itssupplier, the Cabot Corporation, to

modify the manufacturing process to re-duce the nitropyrenelevels in the carbonblack used inthe toners. He said .emodification had cut nitropyrene le-,,sftm a maximum of 10 to15parts per mil-lion to 0.15 parts per milion begitnningwithshlipments in March.Befor the change, the higher nitropy-rene levels were found in about half theXerox toners, Mr. Becker said, addingthat the company decided against order-ing a recall on toners already on the mar-ket with higher nitropyrene levels be-

cause "we feel there is not a health haz-ardfrm the toner that isout thereandnoreasontobavea recall."

MZa e;¢(CaLlaitcer r

By Victor Cohn -.

w._.w.na Fiatmstassw,ti

machines could rowv a cacer hazardto heavily enosed ovang.p_ m,

nods.. Universty* of Tea ,clUt

have found.All the eovidence so far:. sbased on

laboratory, tests. "and- we need some-.

animal- data. before wer- cn say

whether ts, a problem or not," said.the head of the Texas grow, Dr. Mar.yin Legator.Just the -same,-offdals- ofCXeirdx

Corp, one of the lagt copier mak-:eM, said they aed to reduce the

amount of the suspect material in

_"toninR-darkenigpecB sold

ScentistS in Legator's 1:boratory at__th.t3nai.@Taat aILs Mledical-z3rancb, Galveston, called the-emi-- cS-al1trOPyree-4 potenltial carcino'gen or cancer-Causer on the bas oftests in bacterlaald culwes.of

gouse cells. .;,-;*!-, '

X-: erox offcls said they had foundadverse effects in siar-tests, but rohuman health haiard. They said the

-ochemical~U5-a Olt u1At. in-the-"carbon black toner in copis4:oundat 10 to 15 parts per million in some

-toner= Since its-findinj, Xerox s idothe firm thatsuppjies the chemical toit,. and other: =nufacturers has reo.rdued the levcl.t" bout-0.l5 parts per

million, "a= amount so Smn2l it's notprecbely measurable." .

ILegator said hie sees no likely risk

'ally. If current animal tests confirm-Xu~labOritOrY .results, he said, hewoul*"worry" about PeOPIe who have

.,,wrrked al-the time: i confiAed copy.

Though the current. tonet ha!i beenmve*heaeso-isld-that "maY-nOt

be the -end of the storY," because car-ners eoftltinAthrcheml

cal that ne4studdy.Legator and -an EnvIronentaL Pro-

tection Agency spokesman here Said,

Xerox should have told.-EPA about itS

test results, as required by lawif a

-tential hazard is identiff1eL-Xerox re-"ported its results to aiclent1ft meet-r-ing last M1arch. -r *'^ ;;- -

"-W"IIVe're conterned th4t thecompanydidn't come to: us with th1% informa-

tion as soon as they bad it,." saidLarry' O'Neilli an EPA Ispokesman."We: don'tIeven havE the complete

b:

W e 've--studies-yett, -*t1.tte'veasked Xerox to submit them. The2well consider fulthw stepw".

the nation's health. november 1980

iReport to Congress:

Indoor Air PofuBESon:

Emergin HazardAlthough it is as yet a little

noticed problem, indoor airpollution may prove to be a moreserious health problem thanoutdoor pollution, states a recentstudy from the CongressionalGeneral Accounting Office.GAO explains that some harmful

air pollutants have been found ingreater concentration in variousindoor environments thanoutdoors, and that peoplenormally spend 70 to 80 percentof their time indoors.The agency further notes that

current efforts to cut down onenergy consumption by buttoningup buildings with weatherstripping, caulking or othermethods, may actually besubstantially increa;ing theproblem.Ay reducing the air exchange,

says GAO, people may betrapping indoor generatedpollutants, and causing the levelsof concentration to increase.

lhe agency gives some examplesof the causes of indoor pollution:*Radon is a natural radioactiveps produced by the decay ofradium and can be emitted into anindoor environment from thebuilding materials in the structureand from soil or rock formationsun der the stiructure .Concentrations in a building canincrease where there is little freshair entering. It is known thatlengthy exposure to levels ofradon above those in the outsideatmosphere can increase the riskof lung cancer, and federal.age%hdes have identified parts ofthe country where indoor lev-elsare highr than outdoor level.*Carbon monoxide can begenerated indoors by gasappliances, leaking fumaces,chimneys, and autor"Mbes in

Pgrags next to houses. Studieshave estimzted that everyday 15million children riding on schioolbuses may be exposed to carbonmonoxide above the levelsconsidered safe.*Formaldehyde, which

preliiinary studies have showncauses cancer in rats, is producedat the rate of six billion poundsper year, and is used in buildingmaterials, fumiture, textiles andother products. In an Incident inMassachusetts, over 100 peoplewere hospitalized with acute.health complaints. It wasdetermined formaldehyde foaminsuIlation was emitting levels offormaldehyde, whch caused anumber of problems.*A study from the Harvard

School of Public Health last yearshowed that nitrogen dioxidelevels were much higher in homeswith gas stoves than houses withelectric stoves and that the highestevels in some of the gas stovehomes exceeded the federalstandard. Some studies have saidthaf the substance effectsepiratory function.eParticles such as dust, soot, ash

or cigarette snoke can be harnurulbecause thy are snall enough togo through the respiratory systemand be deposited in the tungs.*Asbestos, which is a

',carcinogen, was banned in 1973 incertain uses in buildingconstruction, but was commonlyput to such uses before that time.It is still used in many otherproducts and its production isactually increasing.GAO suggests that federal

recognition of the problem isextremely smal in comparison tothe hazard.

HIEALTH AlID SAFETY FPCT SHEET ON PHOTOCOPIERS

Last year millions of workers made billions of copies usingXerox (TM) machines and other types of photocopiers. This factsheet examines the potential health hazards to the operators ofthese machines.

HOW A PHOTNOCOYMACHINE-WORKSIn a photocopier light reflected from the original is shined

on an electrically charged plate. The plate remains charged onlyin those areas corresponding to the print on the original. Finallythe image is transferred to a piece of paper which is heated,makingthe toner particles stick permanently to the paper and forming thecompleted copy (a process known as fusing).

If the machine uses a coated paper process the paper itself iselectrically charged and takes the place of the plate.

SOURCES OF HEALTIH HlAZARDSThe principle sources of hazard to the photocopy operator are:

1) hazards from light sources; 2) chemicals used in the toner andin the fusing process; 3) production of ozone; 4) electrical safety.

HAZARDS DUE TO LIGHT SOURCES

Photocopiers require high intensity light. The lamps producehigh amounts of visible light, which can cause eyestrain,and ultra-violet light.which can damage the skin and eyes. On most machinesthe glass plate on which the copy is placed blocks the ultravioletlight. However, as a precaution, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) recommends that 1) workers avoid looking directly at the lightsource,and 2) document covers be used wherever possible.

CHErIICAL HAZARDS OF PHOTOCOPY MACHINES

A large variety of chemicals are used in photocopy machines soit is difficult to make general statements that apply to all machines.-The chemicals are used in the toners, in the fusing process and inthe paper. Workers get exposed to these chemicals from inhaling vaporsand dusts emitted during operation of the machine,and from handlingthe paper,which may contain any of the substances used in the process.

Dry toners (in powdered form) usually contain carbon black,polymers (plastics) and organic dyes. In addition, wet toners (liquidform) contain an organic solvent. These substances have been knownto cause skin rashes and allergic skin reactions among photocopyoperators. These reactions have also been caused by the chemicalsin the coated paper. (Employers should be aware of this problemwhen purchasing co?ted paper machines.) Individuals who develop

rashes should avoid all contact with the paper as it comes out^ ofthe machine, wearing rubber gloves if necessary.

If the machine uses a wet toner, the solvent will be vented tothe room air during operation and if it builds up (due to poorventilation, for example) it can cause eye or throat irritation ordrowsiness.

Additional chemicals may be produced and released from themachine in the fusing process when heat is applied to the paper --

a possibility that has received inadequate attention.Color photocopiers use many complex dyes and other chemicals

and more is needed to be known about their hazards.

Because photocopiers use high voltage they may produce ozone(03), an activated form of oxygen with a characteristic pungent odorsometimes described as an "electrical odor." In low doses ozone cancause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. In higher doses itcan cause coughing or choking, fatigue, pain or pressure in thechest, chronic lung disease. Ozone is considered a special hazardto people who have any form of lung disease or heart disease.Most photocopy machines do not produce ozone above the OSHAthreshold of 0.1 ppm, but machines that are serviced infrequently,po6rly maintained, or kept in small enclosed rooms may at timesproduce ozone in excess of the OSIIA limit. If you can smell thecharacteristic odor of ozone, its concentration is near or abovethe OSHA limit.

ELEFCTRICAL SAFETY/NMAINTENANCE'Phlotocopy machines use high voltage (up to 11,000 volts), which

may remain for awhile even after the machine has been turned off.Machines are usually well designed, so there should be no cause forconcern abouL possible electric shock. But as an extra. precautionoperators should not attempt to make internal adjustments or re-pairs on the machines other than the operating instructions.

A person employed by the manufacturer of the machine should becalled in to make repairs, clean and maintain the machine.

SUIPMARY OF RECOMEIMATIoKS1. Photocopiers should be used only in open,well-ventilated rooms.

2. Any machine emitting a pungent odor should be checked for ozoneemission.

3. Photocopy machines should be cleaned and maintained regularlyby the manufacturer.

4. Operators should avoid looking directly at light sources andshould use document covers wherever possible.

5. Workers who develop skin rashes should avoid contact with thepaper that comes out of the machine, wearing protective gloves,if necessary. .

6. Manufacturers of photocopy machines should provide more inform-ation on the ingredients used in toners and other substances andon the chemical emissions during actual operation of the machines.

* * *

Fluorescent Lights Are Found to Boost Cell-Mutation Rate

Hamster Cells Grown in Lab Used in Research: EffectsOn Animals Isn't Known

A shadow of suspicion may have been cast over the effects offluorescent lighting on health.

A team of cancer researchers reported that they had discoveredthat fluorescent light apparently can cuase mutations in cells grownin the test-tube. The discovery doesn't prove that fluorescent lightis harmful particularly since clothing shields most of the body fromthe light. But it is the kind of evidence that had the mutations beencaused by a chemical the chemical would have been singled out for furthertesting in animals to see if it might cause cancer or birth defects.

As it is, the researchers noted only that "if human cells are alsocaused to mutate by fluorescent light, then the advisability of limitinghuman exposure to fluorescent light should be considered.

The researchers reported an experiment showing the effects ofordinary fluorescent light on hamster cells cultured and maintained inlaboratory flasks. The hamster cells ordinarily are used in studies ofhow anticancer drugs work, particularly of how the drugs damage thegenetic material of cells causing mutations.

Because cells cultured in the laboratory tend to mutate withoutany apparent reason the researchers decided to check the efeects on thecells of fluorescent light used in many laboratories. They found thatthe fluorescent light could, in fact, cause mutations.

The experiments were conducted at a molecular-pharmacology labora-tory of the National Cancer Institute at Bethesda,Md.,near Washington.The researchers, Mathews O. Bradley, a senior research fellow, and NancyA Sharkey, at technician, reported the results in the weekly Britishmagazine, Nature.

In the experiments, the researchers ruled out the possibility thatthe nutrient solution on which the hamster cells are grown could becausing the mutations. They also ruled out the possibility that theinvisible "far-ultr-violet" rays in the light, which are known to bemutagenic, might be responsible.

The hamster cells were exposed to ordinary fluorescent light fromfour Sylvania Cool White bulbs in two desk lamps placed about threeinches above the cell cultures for one to three hours. The exposed cellsshowed mutation rates several times greater than unexposed cells.

A spokesman for General Telephone & Electronics Corp., whichproduces Sylvania fluorescent bulbs, said experts at the company hadn'tyet seen the report in Nature and couldn't comment on it.

Whether fluorescent light can produce mutations in cells ofhumans and animals other than hamsters remains to be determined, however.Tests in live animals would be difficult , Mr. Bradley explained, becausethe animal fur would shield the animals' skin from the light. Humanclothing also blocks the light.

Wall Street Journal,1981By Jerry E Bishop

By KEITH HEARNAssociate Editor

Severe irritation from flyingfiberglass dust and the threat ofbeing impaled by falling spikes leda dozen Department of Justiceworkers to walk away from theproblem area recently.

The employees mSacramento's figerprint andrecords section were told by CSEArepresentatives to leave thecontaminated room and makethemselves available for workelsewhere.

Management then let some gohome on sick leave oradministrative time off. Anemergency work area was set up inanother room and installation workwas halted.

"The employees and CSEArepreser.a tives felt there was noaltemative but to walk out afterseveral davs of lung irritations, skinrash.es and finding blood on theirhandkerchiefs when they blew theirnoses," savs CSEAs VirgaMolden.V

The problem was the"fiberglass fallout" - a

Reprinted co irtesy of The Sacrawfento Union

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continual light rain of tinyfiberglass hairs from insulationbeing installed over the work areas.

A potentially more hazardoussituation involved 6½-inch metalspikes which are glued to the highceiling to secure the heavyinsulation pads.

Some spikes were glued overnine-year-old paint In one case,the paint peeled off and the entirepad - a virtual upside-down bedof nails - crashed down on twofemale employees.

"A spike missed one girl byinches," says Ms. Molden. 'Thispotentially health-damagingfiberglass combined with the threatof being run through with a spikehas left some employees visiblyupset. Some were actuallyshaking."

After the employees protested,the installers went back and rippedoff all spikes which were looselysecured, so there supposedly is nolonger any danger of beingskewered.

The Division of IndustrialSafety was called in to see if thefiberglass particles are a healthhazard in violation of theCalifornia Occupational Safety andHealth Act (Cal-OSHA).

A Cal-OSHA inspector and anindustrial hygiene engineer said thefiberglass concentration was notabove acceptable levels and itwasn't a health hazard - only anirritant

"But the situation was causingsuch obvious discomfort to theemployees, especially withinflamation of the eyes and skin,that we felt they shouldn't have towork there," says Ms. Molden.

CSEA officials are continuingto seek solutions through theDepartment of Justice, the Office ofArchitecture and.Construction, andCal-OSHA. CSEA is urginginstallation of low ceiling to protectworkers if any more fiberglasspanels, vith their sharp spikes,should fall down.

Writer's Study

Fluorescent BulbsCalled Cancer Peril

Lps AngelesTfe light from fluorescent bulbs caue cancer In

laboratory animals, science writer Loweil Ponte saidyesterday. He-quoted government studies showing thearUfical light ca more damage to amm than anequal dose of sunlight

Ponte, whose investigation appears in the Febru-ary issue of Reader's Digest, said the hazard fromfluorescent light is the same as from ultraviolet rays ofthe sun, which cause skin cancer.

He said he would like to see the U.S. governmentrequire warning labels on fluorescent bulbs as ft doeson cigaret packages

, "These unseen UltraviOlet rays in sunlight are theVeason sensitive persons get skin cancer from too muchixposure to the sun," Ponte said in an interview.

'SBut the. Invisible light radited by fluorescentbulbs causes geneticdage and cancer tomammas ata higher rate than sunlightdoet," he

He sid the unnaturallightfrom luoresent bulbs.radiates at corwavelengths different from sunlight.

"We bave only lived withfluorescent bulbs sicethe 193b," he said, ""but already they are the moswidey usd kind of light in American school offand factoris"- ..

He quoted Dr. F. Alin Anderson of the US. Foodand Drug Adminstratlon'g Bureau of RadiologicalHeal, who last year sid his studies Ce-irmed thatfluoreset light causes more damge to mammals thaa'an -equ dose of slight.

Pbnte, of Los Angeles, a saf science writer forReader's Dl s, found more than a,dozen major.*nee studlea during his investgation that conirmedthe cancer, causg effecs of fluorescent light, he sad.

"It evid showed that a chemical caused thismuch caner," be said 't;e twould movequiklytO ban it.

"DM the FDA only has power regulate foods anddrug not lit," he said. He added, however, that thesurgeon generat of the United States may have thepower to order a warning label put on fluoresentbulbs ' .'- s

Ponte said the cancer risk can be minated byputing.a solid plsc shield between such bulb andpeople. The sield- absorbs fthe acaeerncauuag ultra*i-ol ight that all furoecent bulbs ivpe off, he said.

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WORKHPLACE FASTA$II$

by u z n, .Gr o

by Suzanne Gordon

September/October 1980Working Papers For A

New Society

Vol, VII, No 5

Industrial psychologists recommend that workersovercome stress by deep breathing and sensitivity-sessions. But the real cure to workplace stress may

lie elsewhere.

To most of Oms sociologists and psychologists concernedwith thi study ofwork and utwrkm, the prvbler is not thatof do degradation of men and wowm, but he diffwulLies

bt a t consciow ad aaonsaes, to haIftradtion.

.HarryB,rarernwLabor and Monopoly Capital

hat knot in your stomach, the stiffness inyour neck, the ache in your templesm arejust what you think-stress Why are youso tense? It's obvious Your suparvr

has just ordeed you to work overtime; manage-ment has ben monitoring your telephone calls;you're trying to adjust to those new video diplayterminals the company just installed to make pro-cessing information easier. Anyone working underthose conditions is entitled to get uptight.

But wait; you're in control of your life. You can

reduce job-related strs. Relax. Imagine you'relying on a beach. The sun caresses your body. Thesea is calm. inviting. Flow with it. That's right.Now you can unwind. Tonight, instead of rushingout to the' supermarket, take a nice long, tension-releaing run. Or pull out your stress list and set

some stress priorities.Above all, stay calm. Don't tcll your supervisor

to shove it. Don't get involved with a union. Stressis a serious problem, to be sure. Bti: together youSuea.nnr Gardan is a reWtnbuting editor o'f Sn PaperShe is based in Washingtow. D.C.

and the company can work it out.So say the industrial psychologists, transac-

tional analyst, sensitivity trainers, and otherassorted personnel consultants who are makingstress management a lucrative new growthindustry. If employee aren't productive enough, ifthey're absent too often, if morale is low, if theythreaten to unionize or exercise union rights, theseconsultants offer an array or techniques to helpmanagement get workers back in line by convinc-ing them that stress is a problem of "lifcstyleredesign" and "'self-management."

Industrial psychology, of course, is a long-standing fixture of modern management. Thescentific management techniques of ,FrederickWinslow Taylor in the early part of the centurywere followed by schools of psychological andsociological study of the worker and work. Tecscacademics of industry oftered a justification ofworker manipulation, along with the intellectualand technical groundwork. The Harvard BusinessSchool's experiments at Western Electric inChicago in the latce 1920s (the Hawthorne experi-ments) were a famous early attempt to applylaboratory techniques to the manipulation of work-ing conditions. One finding, the famous "'Haw-thorne effect" was that almost any change in theworkplace environmcnt (such as lighting, pro-duction routines, work lkcation, etc.) improvedproductivity, presumably because the workers

WORKINGPAPERS

36

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appreciated that something was being done ontheir behalf.

Since then, industrial psychology techniqueshave been refined and widely applied, primarily inblue collar workplaces. Because the field is almostentirely management-oriented, industrial psychol-ogy has been viewed with suspicion by unions. Liketheir predecessors. today's programs on "stress"seem unlikely to address the deeper causes of work.-place tension-the pace of work, the quality ofwork, tedium, and powerlessness within the work-place hierarchy.

But today industrial psychology has beenstrengthened by the human potential movement,and is widely used in white collar as well as bluecollar workplaces. Welfare workers in San Diego,who complained about their inability to cope withgrowing caseloads, have been invited to attendstress reduction seminars. Nurses and otherworkers in the vicinity have been sent to the Uni-versity of California at Riverside, where Dr. KarlAlbrecht has taught them how to manage on-the-job stress. Police officers in Los Angeles and muni-cipal workers in Corona. California, have beenintroduced to est. while police oflicers in Dallashave dabbled in biofeedback. At big companies likeIBMNI and Babcock & Wilcox. and at federal agen-cies in Washington, disgruntled employees findmanagement is suddenly very interested in helpingthem develop their human potential through stressreduction workshops.

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n Washington, one popular stress reductionconsultant is industrial psychologist LindaRunion Josef-director of the Center ofApplied Psychology. Josefs programs are

typical of hundreds of others ofTered around thecountrv. Working with management, she gatherssupervisory and lower level employees and teachesthem how to manage stress in the workplace. Shebegins by admitting that stress is the product of thework environment but explains that the work envi-ronment, with its production quotas, hicrarchicalstructure, and fragmentation of work tasks (as wellas the economic system it serves) is a given. If theworker is unhappy at work, the best thing would bea change of attitude about work.To do this the worker must learn to assess per-

sonal failures and limitations, to understand thatwork overloads are often a result of penonal inabil-ity to set priorities as well as eagerness to take on

too many tasks. Management may share the blamesince supervisors often fail to support employees,give adequate feedback, and explain their pnor-ities. But the real problem, according to this view,is that most people just don't know how to relax or

communicate their needs. So consultants like Josefteach them to deal with collective problems indivi-dually. Collective action is discouraged: confron.tation, for example or taking one's problems to theunion.

"It (stress training] could have a profound effect[on unions]," says Josef. "The reason is that the

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creation of a stress is a shared responsibility amongall the people who make up the work environment.So if you have a noisy work environment, it's notthe employer's fault for creating the noise, it's alsoyour fault for not objecting to it, for doing nothingabout it. Stress training doesn't lead to faultfinding; it doesn't lay blame. It opens up for dis-cussion the working environment and puts peoplein a problem-solving mode together... let's seehow we can get rid of this stress. "

According to Josef, working together to get rid ofstress involves learning how to relax as well aslearning how to communicate. Exercise, con.trolled fantasy, and deep breathing are all compo-nents of a stress reduction program. Transactionalanalysis techniques are also useful; they teachemployees how to recognize when it is the super-visor who is in "not okay positions," so they cannegotiate their way out. 'Take the case of a memobeing thrown at a secretary," Josef explains. "Theboss treats her as not okay. Now if the secretaryapproaches the boss in a temper, from a child state,the boss can accuse her of being insubordinate...If she comes out of her child state and realizes thatthat could provoke a child response and that shedoes have a choice of handling it in an adult stateshe would go in to the boss and say, "Mr. Smith,before I work on the memo, t'd just like to makeclear to you that when you throw a memo at me,it's extremely upsetting, it's demoralizing, it'saggravating, and if you come in and give me mywork in a more considerate manner, take a littletime to show some interest in me as a person. itwould make a world of difference in how I feelabout my job." The problem, thus outlined, is nota matter of management power or the pressure toproduce, it's a matter of proper office etiquette.Josef and her fellow behavioral psychologists

believe that many workers who complain about jobstress do so because they have "low stress toler-ance." In fact, some go so far as to claim that thedifference between people at the bottom of thecorporate heap and those on the top is their abilityto tolerate, even to thrive on, stress.

This view of workplace frustration, its cause andcure, is part of a tradition that overlooks basic rela-tionships of power and the degradation inherent inthe way work is defined and organized. Thisapproach logically leads to a set of remedies thatreinforce management's ultimate control and holdthe worker accountable for his or her distress. lUsu-ally, the goal is greater output, not necessarilygreater satisfaction. The problem, of course, is thatthe working conditions that cause this overload ofjob stress have not disappeared.The stress response is essentially physiological.

Faced with external pressure. the body initiates a

series of coping mechanisms. Heartbeat increases,the stomach secretes acid and releases hormonesthat affect metabolism, there is a sudden surge of

adrenalin and a rise in cholesterol and blood sugarlevels; energy is released in the muscles, while thestomach becomes active. In periods of acute stress,these coping mechanisms prepare the body forflight or fight. If the stress response does not lead toone or the other, it can turn inward. When a personfeels compelled to perform, regardless of the work-ing conditions, suppressed anger can eat holes inthe stomach, cause changes in the cardio-vascularsystem, trigger chronic anxiety or depression, andlead to a variety of psychosomatic illnesses, such asmigraine headaches. as well as to drug or alcoholabuse.

n Jrntil several years ago, it was thought thatstress was particularly the manager's orprofessional's disease-the hidden cost ofworkaholic overachieving and the heavy

responsibility of or,dering other people around. Butnow medical researchers confirm that stressplagues blue collar and lower level white collarworkers as well. For them, the causes of stress arelack of control over their work, too much work,excessive supervision and harrassment, lack of jobsatisfaction, rigid work roles, little opportunity todevelop skills or advance on the job, repetitive andboring work, the inability to work cooperatively (oreven communicate with fellow employees on somejobs), tension created by new technology, and thethreat of unemployment. All of these job stressesaffect a worker's health and spill into family andpersonal relationships. <

Occupational health and safety experts, like 'Janet Bertinison, of the Labor OccupationalHealth Program (LOHP) of the University of Cali-fornia at Berkeley, points to a variety of govern-ment and medical studies that document theserious health problems stress creates. "I thinkwe're just beginning to realize the terrible effectsstress has on the body," Bertinison says. "It's notjust a matter of problems that directly stem fromstress, there are indirect problems too. Stress canhinder the body's ability to fight off other occupa-tional illnesses. WVhen you're uider chronic stress,your body is in no shape to handle the assault itreceives from chemicals, noise, and machines."

Stress is clearly an important issue for the labormovement and its supporters. But industrial psy-chologists like Josef now dominate the field, andincreasingly their primary customers are whitecollar workplaces. According to Josef, "It's verydifficult to change stress patterns in blue collarworkers. In order to benefit from any kind of self-help or self-development program a person needs acertain degree of intellectual sophistication. Up toa point you can talk to them about deep breathingand looking at things from a different perspective,but blue collar workers, men in general, are muchless susceptible to psychological intervention of anytype. "I'

WORKIINGPAPERS

38

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The average blue collar worker. Josef implies,has not been primed by women's magazines andcurrent self-help best-sellers that assure the indivi-du,tl that she is responsible for her life and any dif-riculties she mayls experience therein. Nor canindustrial psychologists easily persuade him thatdeep breathing. and half an hour of jogging a day%%ill slow up the assembly line, lessen deafeningnoise. or undo the damage that toxic dust andchemicals may have done to his health. If he is aunion member. he is also likely to reject the sen-sitivitv session in favor of the grievance procedurewhen he has a problem with management. And hemay lack the refinement to separate the internalstresses upon his psyche from the cruder causes ofstress on the job: speed-up, low pay, unsafe condi-tions, and boring work.

Industrial unions-such as the United AutoWorkers (CAW'). and the International Associa-tion of Machinists (IAIM)-view stress as a signifi-cant aspect of many other problems, but they donot have programs that deal solely with job stress."The union does a lot of things that relieve jobstress that aren't specifically stress programs," saysFrank Miere. assistant director of the UAW'ssocial security department. "If you look at thingsthat create stress, then you see that a lot of whatthe union traditionally does addresses stress on thejob.

_ ow paid white collar workers are far moresusceptible to the kinds of psychologicalintervention that specialists like Josef pre-scribc. Most of these workers are women.

Their socialization has made them passive, theirlow self-esteem makes them suspect they are likelyto be at fault. White collar work is usually notunionized, and workers have no alternative but toaccept management's training programs. Evenwhen they are unionized, they are seldom accus-tomed to adopting an aggressive posture towardmanagement. Thcir problems, moreover, oftenhave to do with interpersonal exchanges with man-agement, and there is appeal in the notion thatcooperation and adjustment will lessen workplace%tress.

Furthermnore, too many of their unions haveneglected the problem of stress on the job."We'vc been negligent," admits Ben Elliott,deputy director of AFSCME District Council 26,"hich represents thousands of federal employees inWa.i'hington, D. C. "We are letting managementtaike the lead. And so manacement is employing

I1

these industrial psychologists to solve conflictsbetween supervisors and cmployees outside thecontract grievance procedure and outside theunion. In the federal sector I've seen instanceswhere workers are filing a lot of grievances in anoffice and management picks just that place toinitiate a stress reduction program. And I thinkwe're going to see much more of this in the future.AFSCME at present has no programs that dealwith stress and 1 think we should begin to createour own programs. The question isn't, Is stress avalid issue-it's, How can we address it in a waythat protects the interest of the worker."

Industrial unions can perhaps afford to dealindirectly with stress on the job. White collarunions, on the other hand, can ill afford to standonthe sidelines while management deftnes the issuesand the solutions. They need to assess the effect ofstress on their members and develop strategies fordealing with its root causes. They also need toformulate guidelines that will help them evaluatethe stress programs consultants market. For,Bertinison says, more and more industrial psy-chologists are approaching unions-as well asmanagement-with their promise of a quick, easycure to workplace stress. "People in unions areconcerned about their members. Since they don'thave programs of their own, they are on the look-out for something that will help their memberscope," Bertinison says. "But the idea has reallybeen sold to unions, just like it's been sold to all ofus, that anything that happens to us is our ownfault. So it's easy to sell these programs to unions.People in unions really need to be warned againstthem since they are a significant threat to the unionmovement. "

A\ lthough industrial psychologists havedominated the discussion of job stress,some unions are beginning to challengethat version of reality. The Communi-

cations Workers of America (CWA) have beenactively organizing and fighting strcss in the BellTclephone System. CWVA sponsored a conferencein San Francisco last year for phone companyworkers. The conference blamed stress on oppres-sive supervision, attendance control systems, forcedovertime, and unrealistic production standards.CWA members concluded that they could reducestress only by bargaining to limit forced overtime,revise attendance control programs, modify pro-duction standards, and climinate managerial har-rassment of employees.

Industrial psychologists may not be able to per.m.didethe average blhe collar worker that half an "mr of

jogging a day will slow up the assembly ;1980SEPTEMBEROCTOBER39

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Stress reduction programs should focus on the realproblems of the workplace, not the individual

worker's personal weaknesses.

CWA's District 5, which covers Illinois, Ohio,and Indiana, also developed a program calledPEP-Project Excessive Pressures. People whowork in the phone company's traffic departmentmeet to discuss job pressures and have analyzedcause of stress. Although there is no contractlanguage that specifically allows workers to filegrievances around these issues, the union nonethe-less suggests that workers geve stress issuesunder the general health and safety clause of thecontract.To bring attention to the problem ofjob stress,

CWA sponsored a national Job Stress Day on June15, 1979. Five hundred thousand workers fromtelephone company locals across the nationdemonstrated to remind the Bell System and thepublic that "we are people, not machines." Inorder to highlight the phone company's persistentfailure to recognize that fact, workers staged aseries of dramatic protests. Workers at a local inNew Jersey draped themselves with toilet paper toprotest the company "potty policy" wherebyworkers are forced to wait as much as half an hourbefore they are allowed to go to the bathroom. InYoungstown, Ohio, 322 Bell workers left their jobsat noon to attend a union meeting about job stress,while in Cleveland locals bought an old BellSystem car and for 50¢ a shot, employees sledge-hammered it to death.

In many locals, the day of protest served to kickoff a series of ongoing job stress programs. Local1024 in New Jersey has created a job pressurescommittee. "Our aim," says local President JimRobinson, "is to identify job pressure as well as togive our local and national bargaining teamsammunition for contract negotiation." Local 1024has recently held another job pressure day andintends to set aside one day each year to assure theBell System that neither the union nor its membersintends to forget the issue.

Locals in CWA's northern California, Nevada,and Hawaii area have also formed job pressurecommittees. Area Director LaReine Paul saysmembers are also addressing the stress experienceof employees who work with video display ter-minals (VDTs), also known as cathode ray termi-nals (CRTs). The union contends that employeeswho use this equipment should be allowed to takefrequent rest breaks and that they should not spendan entire working day "shackled to the machines."CWA is also concerned about the stress that comesfrom fear of unemployment associated with thenew technology. "Every_time a worker s_es a new

piece of machinery they feel their job will be thenext to go," an international health and safetyofficial explained. "The company tells them thatthis new piece of machinery will make their jobeasier and then in a couple of weeks they tell theemployees they don't need as many people to dothe work. When you'rejust waiting for the ax to fallon your head, you're under a lot of stress."

( \)ther unions also have begun seriousprograms that deal with job stress. Forexample, the American NewspaperGuild, the Office and Professional

Employees International Union (OPEIU), and theTelecommunications International Union havealso focused on stress caused by VDTs. Theseunions recently asked the National Institute ofIndustrial Safety and Health (NIOSH) to conducta study of VfDTs. NIOSH's preliminary findingconfi'rms that VDTs seriously affect workers' physi-cal and emotional health. "VDTs cause eye strain,eye fatigue, muscular strain, and a great deal ofstress due to the threat of automation," says Bar-bara Pottgen, OPEIU chief steward at CaliforniaBlue Shield. "Practically all our jobs are now auto-mated, so consequently production standards havebeen raised and this has placed incredible strainsand demands on us. It's been so stressful that someemployees just can't keep up, and have lost theirjobs." Pottgen ridicules the suggestion that deepbreathing and stress-reduction programs thatblame the employee rather than the employer willalleviate the members' problems. "What we wantto do," she countered, "is challenge the produc-tion standards the company sets. When themachines first came in we engaged in slowdowns.Now we're going to try to deal with the issue inNovember's contract negotiations. We want morebreaks, better lighting and seating, and we wantthe company to set more human production stan-dards." OPEI-U has joined with the NewspaperGuild, the Typographical Union, and several otherunions to form a coalition that will petitionOSHA-on both the state and national levels-toregulate VDTs and set production standards forthe machine.How has management reacted to union ini-

tiated attempts to alleviate job stress? Faced withcollective complaints, management's concern fortheir employe s' self-development seems tocvaporatc. The Bell System insists that stress is nota product of the workplace but of the worker'shome life. And its response to union action did not

WORKINGPAPERS

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emphasize communication: after CWA's Job StressDay, the company suspended hundreds of workerswho participated in the day's events. Over 300 ofthe Youngstown workers were greeted with sus-pension notices when they went back to their jobs.In protest 946 employees walked off their jobs andstayed out of work for four days. The union wasable to get them reinstated with no further disci-plinary action, but Chief Steward Barry Jones saysthe company has shown absolutely no interest indealing with their complaints. "Job Stress Dayhelped to make the company aware how stronglypeople felt. Anytime people will lose money toprove a point it means they're serious. But nothinghas changed. "

Bell System management demonstrated thesame intransigence when the union presented itscontract demands during this summer's nationalnegotiations. The union has made job stress animportant bargaining issue and has proposed con-tract language that would allow workers to filegrievances over working conditions that lead to jobstress. At this writing the Bell System has not onlyrefused to alter those-conditi6ns, it has also tried torenege on its agreement to experiment with flex-time schedules as a way of reducing job pressures.Other companies display the same rigid atti-

tude when their employees try to "communicatetheir needs" to management. Blue Cross/BlueShield and other companies that use VDTs haverefused to accept NIOSH's findings about thehealth problems created by the technology.Pottgen says the company is "very hostile" to anydiscussions of changes in production standards andrefuses to discuss NIOSH's findings with the jointunion-management health and safety committee.

In some instances management's rigid attitudeshave discouraged workers. Barry Jones says hismembers have become apathetic about the issueand he does not feel they would support anotherjob stress event. Other CWA local officials feeltheir concentration on job stress has producedpositive results. "Now people are focusing more onworking conditions," says a representative at

CWA's health and safety department. "It makes iteasier for us to get people to come to us with theirproblems so then we can begin to investigatethem. "Workers in locals that have initiated ongoing job

stress programs and job stress committees, andwhich have plans for annual job stress demonstra-tions, understand that stress is an ongoing prob-lem that can only be dealt with through long termcollective action. In locals where dramatic action(such as the Youngstown walkout) is not part of anongoing program, workers can become easily frus-trated when their courage is not rewarded withimmediate success.

a~J~ he movement to organize workers aroundthe problems caused by job stress is rela-tively young. In spite of the difficultiesinvolved in alleviating stress in the work-

place, it is an issue that allows unions to raise con-sciousness about working conditions and healthand safety issues. Serious job stress programs likemany of those in CWA and OPEIU concentrate onthe workplace rather than the worker.Janet Bertinison, and AFSCME's Ben Elliott

feel that serious stress reduction programs shouldindeed teach workers stress reduction techniques.A worker who is plagued by migraine headaches,severely depressed, or has ended up in the cardio-vascular unit at the local hospital hardly has theenergy or ability to fight for workplace change.Moreover, since it takes time to win changes, stressreduction can help a worker cope and free the ener-gies necessary for collective action. Both Bertinisonand Elliott agree, however, that stress reductiontechniques should merely be an adjunct to aprogram whose main focus is on the workplace andits problems, not the workers' personal weak-nesses. If a stress program does not teach workersto examine their workplace, to evaluate the objec-tive conditions that cause job stress, and toseek collective remedies-as well as to prepare fora long hard fight, it is likely to do more harm thangood. U

1980SEPTEMBEROCTOBER41

I

MOTHER JONES

Ever Have a Dumb, Primitive Suspicion of

Fluorescent Lights? Well...

. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~i . *1

JUST ABOLT AN hour's drive from alab where Thomas Edison workedon artificial light, John Ott has

been looking into that light with somesuspicion. Ott has some unsettiingthingsto say about the artificiallysgc cdcombinabtions of waveleig-Ths-haL

>iQ.^~Mcnt (Ddl lres_cent bulbs and from televisionse.tc an,that are es ei rm

wh =d oetieude-ih bulbstheydo underbe Ott is con-

visiced that wvaveIe4th_dgprivatjon. aTiliuninUivsc , is a con--ributing factor in a variety of mlaades,from can--r to arthritis to hy.c

The growing number of Ott's sup-porters are as divese as the maladies.They include eye specialists, botanists,cancer researchers, flonrsts, light bulbnianufacturers, chinchilla breeders and.schlool psychologists And even the man-agement of a minor-league baseballteam, which thanked Ott for improvingthe disposition ofa player by suggestingthat he stop wearing his pink sunglasses.The nunmber and variety ofsupporters

are even mor- impressive when you con-sider Ott's unusual approach to science,as evidenced by his trip to the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Researchlust summer. Ott was invited to lecture

In tile early years oftl's research, Jo/rn Ort pollinates a pumpkin ainderfluorescent light. Thtepumpkinflowers grew quite differendly unler daylight.

the cancer people. It was an importantopportunity, not only because Ottspends most of his time worrying aboutlight and cancer these days, but also be-cause some of the cancer people haveresisted his arguments in the past. Partof their resistance stems from the factthat Ott has no formal scientific train-

..mg-didn't even.go to college-yet still-has the gall to stand up to experts whooutdegrde him by a factor often. ("Theyreject my ideas because they say there is

JUNE 197849

no precedent for them in the litera-ture," Ott explains. "I tell themth^ i'cure for cancer was already in 'l.itera-. -

ture, they surely would vz,ecome acrossit by now.") And rpit of their resistanceis based on the tact that Ott's great ideascome to him while he is taking picture'ofpumpkins for Walt Disney or of flow-ers for Barbra Streisand movies. Thenotion that a cure for canrc:r could be a

by-product of Hollywood makes testtubes rattle in serious research labs.

-- .7.a-

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Given this entr&e with Sloan-Ketter-ing, a less lhar(IN person thilan Ott nighit

have tried to uownplav such show bizi>sovi;ations, or at l dst(leclare thalt he

had given up his rhotogr.-phic career in

fav or of seriouis scientific work. Buit Ottdid just the rccrsc. -\V11ilc I was in thenm.ghborhood,- Ott ". I decided Icouild pdv for the trip hy taking soiiie

tim"e-lapse pictlres of ttheC tfloats in theMa;cy's parade fi or NBC' NCws."

It is just thiis kind ot side trip thatmakes Ott continually suspect to soberscience- would Einstein have inter-rupted relativ ity to do the box scores forthe Washington Senators'?-but Ott'sgreat discoveries (lepend on these diver-gences. His revelations come as a resultof chance meetings with eye doctors atgarden parties, well-timed letters fromchinchilla breeders, aiccidlents with hisown eyeglasses at the beatch or the pur-chase of the wrong kind of liglht bulb atthe store. If he is part of a scientific tra-dition, it is the tradition of invention-by-mistakc anud brilliance-by-coinci-dence that seems miore a part of Des-cartes' century than of our own. In an

age of strict scientific professionalisnm,Ott has broken an amazing amnount ofground just by bumping into things. "Isolve many problems," he says, "in myown simple way, by trial and error.",

In his own simple way, Ott has man-

aged to fuse a lifetinme of incidental ob-servations into a theory, a theory thathas evohed over 40 years like a scuilp-ture madec from spare parts. The theoryis that many forms of animal life, in-ch:lding hunmans, require a balanced dietof light-taken in through the eye-

much as they require a balanced diet ofnutrients. Aninial organismis use lightnot only to see with but also as a kind ofmaster control for parts of the glandularsystem. Ott says that the pituitary gland,that mystery organ, is actually pro-grammed to pick up messages fromii theeye, and that those messages depend on

the particular wavelengths that strike a

layer of retinal cells called the pignmentepithelial. These cells have no knownvisual function.

If you've nlisplaced your high schoolphysics book, natural sunlight can bebroken down into various wavelengths,which represent the colors of the spec-trum. Ott believes that animals are muchmore sensitive to these various wave-

lengths than was previously assumed. In

earlier generations, when people gotplenty of direct sunlight, you wouldn't

\ 101 I JER JONES

have foLndndany victims of what Ottcalls "malillumination." But as peoplespend meore of their tinme behind light-distorting glasses and sunglasscs, be-hindi tinted windshields and plastic-coated picture windows, and under arti-fi6a! lights. the traditional wavelengthdiiet has been replaced by an unhealthy.nall-n-zmde substitute.

"Most artificial lighting, incandescentor fluorescent. does not duplicate the

Before & After: The dramaticdifference in the tails of laboratorymice who have lived their entire livesunder pink fluorescent light (top) andnatural daylighrt (bottom) illustratesOtt's thesis about the effects ofcertainkinds of artificial light. Other keyexperiments have been done on rats,bean plants and grass blades.

full spectrunm of wavelengths thatreaches us from sunlight," Ott says.

""Most fluorescent tubes emphasize onlycertain portions of the spectrum to cre-ate various decorative effects, such as

'natural white.' The typical incandescentbulb contains virtually no ultraviolet,and it is also lacking in the blue end ofthe spectrulm." At one time these detailshaid meaning only for decorators, butnow Ott has introduced them to doctorsand psychologists.There are a lot of people who feel

funny about fluorescent lights, just as

there are people who feel funny aboutartificial foods and x-rays and a varietyof other modern advances. Since thesepeople have had no science to back themup, they have had to limit their criticismof fluorescents to statements of culturaldispleasure, such as "This place is lit likea Highway Patrol station." But if Ott'ssuppositions are correct, artificial light-ing is just one nmore area where regularpeople have harbored unrefined skep-ticism, have been debunked by legionsof experts and then have discovered thatthey were right all along.

IL 'N I ('M, s

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Bean Plants andTVTo get some sort of clue as to whether

this guy was on the level. I visited Ottat his home in Sarasota, Florida. Thefirst thing that struck me was the lack ofthat superficial eccentricity that I as-sumed attached to all such quantumleapers. At Edison's place nearby. wherea lot of this light trouble got started, thehouse exuides eccentricity-in spite ofhaving been controlled by unctuous tourguides for the last 30 years. Ott's placeis a simple beach house. Except for thetransparent blue light bulbs and thewindow film that lets in sunlight (hisneighbors put up film to keep it out),Ott's house is devoid of hints that he hasspent his entire aduilt life tinkering withcameras and lights.

Ott is pushing 70. At first meeting hestrikes you as more the career foreignservice officer than the wild-eyed inven-tor. He even looks like a foreignl serviceofficer-tall, white-haired and slightlyreserved. Ott is also friendlv. well-spoken, polished and genteel. He has asense of humor that has survived yearsof frustration, when his ideas weretreated as if he had found them in anorgone box. "'A lot of doctors who sawfilms of my research were convincedthat there was something to it," Ottsays. "But then they told their col-leagues, who said they had gone off thedeep end."

The man himself seems believableenough. Aside from his unorthodox re-search style, and a history of flirtationswith pumpkins and Disney and NBC,Ott's main acceptance problem comesfrom his insistence that the scientificcommnnunity recognize his theory in itsentirety. Some of his friends have urgedhim to downplay the wilder suggestions("One doctor told me to quit trying tocure cancer by shining a light in peo-ple's eyes," Ott says) and concentrate onthings like the harmful radiation givenoff by television sets.

In 1965 one of Ott's simple experi-ments shook up the television industry.He took some bean plants and put themin front of a color TV. The plants wereh3den behind a black paper screen, sovisible light did not reach them from thetelevision. Half of the plants were alsoprotected behind a lead shield, whichblocks out the non-visible radiation; theother half were not. The unshieldedplants exhibited some pretty strange be-havior, like growing their roots up in-

stead of down. This experiment causedsome embarrassment among televisionindustry officials, who had said that TVsets complied with the industry's volun-tary radiation standards and posed nodanger to health. Ott contended that theamount of radiation given off variedwidely. The thought of what the humancounterpart to the plant weirdness mightbe led one manufacturer to clear itsthroat and recall a few TV sets. It also

persuaded the government to lower theamount ofallowable TV radiation. Iron-ically, the amount permitted under thenew law is no different from the volun-tary standard already touted by the in-dustry, which Ott says is still a good dealtoo lax.

Ott also put rats in front of television,and he found them to get as lethargic asa child watching Saturday morning car-toons. Ott suggests that the content oftelevision programming might not benearly so harmful as the content of thelight and radiation a TV gives off. But,in typical fashion, he declines to becomea professional television gadfly.

Instead, he is thinking about why ratsget more tumors under pink fluorescentlights, why sunglasses might be danger-ous, why retinal cells in the pigmentepithelial respond to light more than tocertain drugs, and a variety ofother mat-ters that make up Ott's overall theory ofhealth and light. Ott spends most of theafternoon pulling articles and tracts outof a closet bookshelf in an attempt toexpose me to all the ramifications of histheory. If all of this turns out to be right,

NMOTHER JONES

then Ott has run into a scientific gov-erning principle as important as the dis-covery of the virus.

A Maladjusted PumpkinOtt's whole idea is so entwined with

the events in his life that it can only beapproached chronologically. Ott con-founds traditionalists by fluttering be-tween opposing branches of science with

the dexterity of a hummingbird aind theaudacity of a second-story man. Henever stays on one subject for very long,and the surprising thing is that later in-volvements somehow magicatlly produceclues that help explain mysteries aban-doned earlier.

Ott stops shuffling throtugh papers andsits down to tell me about it. He joinedthe family bank in Chicago (which ex-plains where he got a lot of his researclhmoney) in the 1920s, and was headed fora genteel banker's life until he got side-tracked by the plants in his basement.He had pursued time-lapse photographyas a hobby since high school, but play-ing with plants and light began to in-terest him more than playing withmoney. He even invented some elabo-rate time-lapse machinery, cameras onlong spindly arms that moved up anddown in his basement, waving like wheatin a breeze. Ott's photographic accountsof the openings and closings of variousplants and flowers were good enough toimpress a lot of corporations, who hiredhim to do photographic studies, andWalt Disney, who hired him to take all

the time-lapse pictures for his naturemovies. By the 1940s, Ott had left thebank to devote himself full time to hiscameras. "I can still hear one old-timerin the bank explaining that I was leavingin order to have more time to take pic-tures of African violets and alpple blos-sonis," Ott remembers.One of Ott's key discoveries camiie

when he was filming a pumpkin for WaltDisney's Secrets ofLife in his basementstudio outside of Chicago, where he didhis early work. The pumpkin was restingconifortably under fluorescent lights. Itdeveloped normally until the point whenfemale flowers appeared. They shriv-eled up and dropped off. "I needed thepictures," Ott says, "so I got anotherpumpkin and tried it again the nextyear. This time the female flowersopened, but the male parts didn't."

This puzzling situation might havebeen cause for pumpkin dissection orsoil sampling in established botanicalcircles, but Ott rejected such routinethinking and just let his mind floatatround the roon. It attached to thefluorescents. "I remenibered," Ott says,"that I had chalnged bulbs between thefirst year and the second." He had usedregular fluorescent tubes when the fe-male flowers withered, and "daylightwhite" tubes before the male flowersfaltered. Ott had discovered earlier thata distortion in the wavelengths of lightreaching various plants through panes ofwindow glass could do things like retardthe ripening of apples. Now he won-dered whether the difference in the wave-lengths given off by two kinds of fluores-cents could possibly affect the sexualdevelopment of pumpkins.

It sounded silly, but Ott was neverafraid of silly-sounding speculation. Infact, the pumpkin episode contains allthe peculiar elements of the Ott style ofresearch, which appear again and againin the stories he tells me. There is theunlikely conclusion drawn from an ap-parently unrelated detail. There is thedropped hint and the jump to anothersubject. Ott imported a pumpkin to pol-linate the female flowers and took hispictures, and that was the end of .hepumpkin episode. But it wasn't reallythe end, becatuse the puumpkin was con-nected to fish through a letter he got inthe mail."The letter was from a high school

teacher in Chicago," Ott says, "who hadseen my time-lapse pictures on a localTV show." The teacher wanted Ott to

J 'NE 1)7851

MOTHER JONES

OTT'S PRESCRIPTIONSFOR HEALTHY LIGHT

WLIGHT BULBS Ott doesn't believe that artificial light is necessarily bad;it is harmful only if the light does not duplicate the natural spectrum of

visible sunlight, and especially if it leaves out ultraviolet. Ott has helped designa fluorescent light that does give off the natural spectrum. It is called Spectra-lite, and it includes a separate blacklight (ultraviolet) tube and lead radiationshields. It can be ordered from Garcy Lighting, 1822 N. Spaulding Avenue,Chicago, Illinois 60647.There are at least two other full-spectrum fluorescent lights. One is Duro-

Test's "Vitalite," which does give off ultraviolet but is not so economical asSpectralite, according to Ott. Another is General Electric's "Chroma 50,"'which is the full-spectrum fluorescent used in Spectralite, but without ultra-violet. "Chroma 50" is widely available. Neither of these provides shieldingsto block off the radiation at the ends of the fluorescent tubes. But they aresomewhat better than regular fluorescent lights.

For incandescent lighting, Ott suggests the "daylight" incandescent bulb,sometimes called "daylight blue." It looks dark blue on the shelf and has aslightly bluish tint when lit. The major manufacturers supply them, so if youlook around you should be able to find some. Daylight incandescent does notoveremphasize the wavelengths in the harmful red range of the spectrum. Ottsays the bulbs to avoid are the "soft pink" ones.

s EYEGLASSES AND CONTACr LENsES Ott does not believe it is a good ideato wear sunglasses of any kind. He also says that regular eyeglasses block

out some of the important wavelengths. You can buy full-spectrum, plasticspectacle lenses from the Armorlite Company, 130 N. Bingham Drive, SanMarcos, California 92069. These lenses are also available through local eye-glass distributos

If you wear contact lenses, Ott suggests the full-spectrum plastic contactsmade by Wesley Jessen, Inc., 37 S. Wabash, Chicago, llinois 60603. Thesecan be ordered through an optician. lf you don't want to go to the trouble ofgetting the special plastic contacts, then try to wear the neutral gray contacts(not to be confused with photogray or any other gray lenses). They reduce allthe wavelenths evenly and don't overemphasize any particular part of thespectrum.f]TV. Television sets still give off harmful amounts of radiation, according

to Ott. A greater amount may be released from the back of the set thanfrom the front. Try not to place much-used TV sets with their backs to wallsthat have a bedroom on the other side, since radiation can penetrate walls.When you are watching, stay as far away from the screen as possible. Better

still, read a book.Ott says black-and-white sets can produce as much harmful radiation as

color sets. It depends on the particular set you have. Among the television setshe tested in the Sarasota area, Ott found that a small portable black-and-whitegave off as much radiation as all of the large color sets.

LIGHT AWARENESs Malillumination will increase, says Ott, as morepeople turn to fluorescent lighting, which they will do because fluores-

cents are energy-savers. The effects of malillumination can be limited if peo-ple buy the right kinds of bulbs, and also if they get into the sunlight as muchas possible. The sunlight is most beneficial if you don't wear glasses. Andremember that you don't have to look directly at the sun to get the beneficialwavelengths.More of Ott's ideas on light can be found in his book, Health and Light,

published by Pocket Books in 1976.

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film the spawning of fish in an aquarium.Ott set up the cameras and his fluores-cents, never expecting that at least 80per cent of the offspring in the tank litwith the pink fluorescent lights wouldturn out to be females. This result rein-forced his suspicion that specific wave-lengths had something to do with sexcharacteristics. Ott had another hint.He didn't have to wait very long to

climb even higher up the evolutionaryladder, because another research oppor-tunity arrived in the mail. It was from achinchilla breeder in New Jersey whohad read about the fish in a newspaper."Her chinchillas weren't producing anyfemale offspring," Ott says, "and I sug-gested that she change the light bulbs inthe pens. I sent her a daylight incandes-cent that duplicated most of the visiblesunlight spectrum." Later, the womancouldn't thank Ott enough for the ar-rival of three female baby chinchillas.Even with such suggestive results, Ott

had no exclusive interest in punmpkins.chinchillas, or light and gender. By the1950s, a 206-year string of photographicassignments had led Ott to ponder manymysteries. Some of them began to makesense to him after he got to look insidethe cells of a blade of grass. What he sawthere led him to rabbits' eyes, arthritis,Cree Indians, rats and cancer.Ott had been hired to do a photograph-

ic record of the movement of chloro-plasts inside the cell of a blade of grass.(In addition to everything else, he hadalso developed the technique of micro-scopic time-lapse photography, an in-valuable research tool.) As usual, Ottwasn't looking for anything special inthese grass cells, but he couldn't helpnoticing. He explained what happenedin his book, Health and Light, publishedby Pocket Books in 1976:"When the Elodea grass was exposed

to the full spectrum of all the wave-

lengths of natural sunlight, all the chlo-roplasts would stream in an- orderlyfashion around and around from oneend of the cell to another. However, ifthe sunlight was filtered through ordi-nary window glass that blocked most ofthe ultraviolet, or if an ordinary in-candescent microscope light, which islacking in the ultraviolet part of thespectrum, was used, some of the chloro-plasts would drop out of the streamingpattern and remain immobile near thecenter or off in one corner of the cell ofa leaf. When a red filter was placed inthe light source of the microscope, fur-

JUNE 197852

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ther restricting, the wavelengths, nmoreof the chloroplasts woiuld drop out ofthe streaminig pattern, and other chlo-roplasts would nmake a shortcut fronmone end across the center of the cell,without going all the way to the otherend."

Ott found that a blue filter would in-terrupt the normal traffic pattern andcause the chloroplasts to bunch up in acorner like so many autistic children. Ifthe red filter was left in for any length oftime, the chloroplasts would mass andattack the walls of the cell, burstingthrough and eventually killing the cellitself. Ott shows me pictures of thesechloroplasts in a movie. The picture of acell committing suicide under a red lightis as gory as anything out of The TexasChain Saw Mfassacre. "I can kill cellswith colors," Ott says.When the filters were removed and a

source of ultraviolet light added to themicroscope light, the chloroplasts wouldagain resume a normal pattern. It wasOtt's first inkling that ultraviolet lightmight have something to do with health.He wanted to know more.

The Rabbit's EyeIn trying to make sense out of the

Elodea grass episode, Ott reniembered afilm he had once made for some tomatogrowers. The tonlatoes in question weresuffering from a very tough virus, andthey had been grown in a glass green-house, The virus had disappeared whenOtt brought the plants into his specialplastic greenhouse, in which he took alot of his pictures. The plastic allowedalmost the full spectrum of light to shinethrough, while glass did not. Ott thoughtabout the mysterious cure, and it oc-curred to him that maybe viruses arehelped along by the kind of cellularchaos he saw in the grass, a chaosbrought on by an improper mix of wave-lengths.He dropped another hint. "In what

little I have read about viruses, no con-sideration has been given the possibilityof a virus originating within the livingcells of a plant itself. It seems to be gen-erally accepted that the virus must beintroduced from an outside source. Itseems quite possible that a chemicalsubstance of a poisonous nature couldresult as a by-product from an incom-plete and unbalanced metabolism withinthe cells of a leaf."

Ott was talking about viruses and

\10lfIER JONES

plants, but not for long. After the movieis over and Ott turns off the projector,he tells me about another social acci-dent, the one that carried hinm from thegrass cell to the rabbit's eye.

This time it wasn't a letter; it was anieeting at a Florida garden club. Ottwas showing some time-lapse pictures,at the behest of his aunt, to entertain acrowAd on 'men's night." An ophthal-mologist named Thomas Dickinson

This chance assignment became thekey piece in Ott's light puzzle. It wasalready known that certain animals re-spond to light as a signal for behavior,and that egg production in chickens canbe increased if the short daylight hoursof winter are lengthened using artificiallights. Two scientists named JacquesBenoit and Ivan Assenmacher hadstudied ducks in France. They con-cluded that different wavelengths reach-

Before: Left: under ordinary "coolwhite"fluorescent lights, thesefemalepumpkin flowers turned yellow, thenblack; withered, andfinally droppedoff the vine.

U-W

After: Right: but under "daylightwhite" fluorescent tubes, the samnepunpkin vine grew vigorous andfer-tilefemale flowers.

happened to be in the audience. He wasfascinated with microscopic time-lapseas a research tool. He had been studyingthe toxicity of various drugs by watch-ing what those drugs did to a layer ofcells, the pigment epithelial, in a rab-bit's eye. He asked Ott to photographthe reactions.The findings, predictably, were in-

credible. Neither Ott nor Dickinsonwould have dreamed that the cells in therabbit's eye, cells that had no knownvisual function, would respond to lightthe same way the grass cells did. But ashe was changing the filters in the micro-scope light source to get better pictures,Ott couldn't help noticing. The granulesinside the cells were moving just like thechloroplasts-bunching up under theblue light, taking cellular short cuts un-der the red and creating general micro-scopic havoc. Natural light would bringthe granules back into a normal flowpattern. Ott approached Dickinsonwith a very strange conclusion. Thestrong drugs didn't do that much to thecells, but the color of light in the micro-scope did.

.#.,I;,

4'U

ing the eye did affect nerve impulses, thebrain and the glandular system. And in1964, Richard Wurtman, Julius Axel-rod and Josef E. Fisher, doing researchfor the National Institute of MentalHealth, declared that cells in the retinahad a definite connection to the func-tioning of the pineal glands in rats.

But nobody had said which part of theeye was the receptor for these wave-length signals. Ott thought he had stum-bled onto it. The pigment epithelial. Heand Dr. Irving H. Leopold, then headof the Wills Eye Hospital and ResearchInstitute in Philadelphia and also theeditor of a scientific journal called Sur-vey of Ophthalmology, wanted to pub-lish an article.That was in 1964. "We wrote the

article and submitted it to the editorialboard," Ott says. "'They said theycouldn't publish it because ophthal-mologists were only interested in vision,and we were talking about retinal cellsthat had no seeing function."

Ott faced a scientific logjam. The oph-thalmologists knew a lot about the in-teraction between light and the eye, but

J'NE IP78s5

..Aw4OMp'---

.

I 4 -

they only wanted to discuss the opticalsystem. The endocrinologists studiedthe pituitary as part of the glandularsystem, and they weren't that interestedin the eye. Since Ott belonged to neithercamp, his discovery fell between thedisciplines.

By this time, Ott wanted to know ifwavelengths had the same effect on hu-mans that they apparently had on rab-bits and rats. In the absence of outsidesupport, he was not afraid to introducehis own personal experience as scien-tific evidence.

For several years he had had a severecase of arthritis, which gave him painand forced him to use a cane. During avisit to Florida in the early 1960s, Ottbroke his glasses; the combination ofthis accident and his arthritis turned outto be fortuitous. Telling me about it, hemotions outside, through the speciallight-transmitting picture window, tothe part of the beach where the cure hadtaken place. In 1964, after he broke hisglasses, Ott spent a great deal of timeon the beach with nothing between hiseyes and the healthy wavelengths. Hisarthritis began to clear up as if bymagic. He found that he could run upthe stairs. He could also get along with-out the injections of glandular extractshe had customarily taken to ease hisaching joints.

Didn't his recovery imply that hisglandular system had been somehowstiniulated to produce its own naturallubricants? Could it be that the loss ofhis light-distorting glasses enabled theproper wavelengths to reach his eye,which in turn stimulated the pituitaryto do its job?

In bringing his own miraculous recov-ery into the picture, Ott began to soundlike a witness to Our Lady of Light. Hisresearch had already caromed offthe science wings of a major university;now he was expanding into the liberalarts and maybe even faith heating. Itdidn't matter. Evidence was evidence,and Ott was convinced that the basis forhealth lay somewhere in the ultravioletwavelengths, the ones that made thegrass-blade chloroplasts get back tonormal. He knew that most eyeglassesdid not permit the passage of ultra-violet, and most of the fluorescent tubesand incandescent bulbs on the marketdid not give off ultraviolet. He was be-ginning to see health and light every-where, and he took that to mean that hewas onto something big.

MOTHER JONES

This time, Ott got his corroboratingevidence from a Chicago restaurantwhere he happened to be eating lunch.The place was heavily blacklighted togive a deep-sea effect, and blacklightcontains a substantial amount of ultra-violet. Ott inquired about the generalhealth of the waiters and busboys. Oneof the managers told him that the lightshad been in use for 18 years. "He saidthat the ultraviolet lights had been inuse continually during that time," Ottreports in his book, "and that the healthof his men had been so consistently ex-cellent that the manager of the hotel hadchecked into the situation, with medicalsupervision, to try to determine whythis particular group of men was alwayson the job, even during flu epidemics."

Here was Ott again, making sciencefrom luncheon dates and contradictingcherished notions. The prevailing im-pression of ultraviolet among doctors isthat too much of it is dangerous. Con-stant exposure to ultraviolet can causeskin cancer. The ultraviolet wavelengthsare also blamed for an eye disease calledpterygium, found among Americanservicemen stationed in various parts ofthe tropics.

Ott agrees that too nmuch ultravioletcan be dangerous, but he also believesthat too little may also be unhealthy. Heattacked the pterygium argument bysomehow finding out that a certaingroup of Cree Indians in northern Can--ida also suffered fronm a high incidenceof pterygium. If that disease wals in factcaused by the ultraviolet from too muchintense sunlight, why would you find itin the Canadian North? Ott, naturally,had his own idea. It turns out that thoseCree Indians had been issued some spe-cial wraparound sunglasses, which theyliked to wear all the time. Sunglasses ofthis type do not admit any ultravioletrays. If the people who contracted pte-rygiuni in the tropical regions also woresunglasses, then maybe, Ott reasoned,the disease was caused not by too muchultraviolet but by a lack of it.

Ott's curiosity about ultraviolet rayswas to be aroused again at luncheon.This time, he happened to be seated ata banquet next to Albert Schweitzer'sdaughter. She told him of a tribe onAfrica's west coast who rarely or nevercontracted cancer until they began tomake repeated contact with the outsideworld. Ott asked if that contact had re-sulted in the tribesmen's wearing sun-glasses. She thought she had run into a

* A protein derived from to-bacco leaves has a nutritionalvalue comparable to that ofmilk.

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* A food made from dried ani-mal blood tastes like cheddarcheese and has almost asmuch protein.

* A wheat that supplies all thebody's food needs may some-day be possible.

With an estimated world popu!ationof 6 billion by the year 2000, whatwill people be eating? Many alter-nate proteins food sources such asbeans, high protein grains, non-dairy cheese and milk, unusualforms of marine life, leafy plantssuch as alfalfa that are now fedexclusively to livestock, one-celledplants such as algae, strange plantsyou never heard of but undoubtedlywill and an assortment of "weird"proteins that includes insects, rep-tiles, rodents, small game such aspossum, raccoons, and even dogs.So if you want to know what you'llbe digging into 25 years from now,read this fascinating and importantbook now.

$10 95 thardcover$4.50 paperback

h Lv, i

6WILLIAM

JL'NE I (47x57

MO(1HiER JONES

scientific Sherlock Holmes. Not onlydid they wear sunglasses. she told Ott,but sunglasses had become a tribal sym-bol with the people!

Thle HintdropperTranscendent

By the middle of the 1960s, Ott wasconvinced that he had found the part ofthe eye that receives messages from lightand transmits them to the pituitary, andalso that he had found the part of thespectrum that contributes to humanhealth. He had dropped hints, but fewpeople had picked up on them. In 1966,he decided to do some research himself.A friend of Ott's, Dr. Samuel Gabby,

had already gotten some interesting re-sults with mice and light. Gabby put acancer-prone variety of mice, calledC3H, under different types of naturaland artificial lighting. The life span ofthe mice seemed to increase or decreasewith different types of lights. Ott didsimilar experiments in his Sarasota lab.Of the more than 500 mice living undernatural light, under ultraviolet-trans-mitting plastic or under quartz glass,only 15 did not reach maturity. Micethat were raised under various types offluorescents developed more fatal tu-mors, and the pink fluorescents turnedout to be the deadliest. Only 61 per centof the mice raised under the pink lightslived through a normal life span. Themice were confirming everything Otthad gathered from restaurants, casualconversations and flights of fancy.

By relying on mice to carry his theory,Ott finally got some response from thescientific community. Ideas that wereonce deemed worthy of Mad magazinebegan to appear in serious academicjournals. Ott published an importantseries of articles in the journal Eye, Ear,Nose, and Throat in 1974. His ideas alsoappeared in the Journtal ofLearning Dis-abilities, illuminating Entgineering andthe Journal of the American Society forPreventive Dentistry. He pulls a pile ofsuch journals out of his library-closet assupporting evidence.The latest returns, from the chinchilla

breeders and from the cancer clinics,seem to support Ott's contention that allparts of his theory have validity. Ott re-ports the corroborative findings: Gabbydid his mice studies in 1959. In 1963,Dr. Edward Scanlon, formerly chief ofcancer research at Evanston Hospital inIllinois, did a similar study with ham-

JUNE 197858

sters injected with tumor transplants.He wrote: '*The animals remaining un-der the cool-white fluorescent tubesshowed an average life span of 29 days,whereas those kept under an air curtain(outside conditions) averaged 43 days."

In 1973, somlle scientists at the WillsEye Hospital (luplicated Ott's own ex-periments with the C3H strain of mice.Their observations "suggest that cath-ode-shielded, full-spectrum fluorescentlighting may be an important environ-mental factor in slowing down tumordevelopment." And in 1974, a furtherstudy done by scientists at the Bureau ofRadiological Healih in Rockville,Maryland, concluded: "'There are manyunanswered questions in this field. How-ever, one very pertinent point clearlyemerges from the studies given here.Specific wavelengths of light affect theincidence and severity of tumors in ex-perimental animals, and they may havean effect on tumors in humans."

Meanwhile, the chinchilla breedershave done further experiments, andthey say that the blue part of the spec-trunm definitely has a determining effecton the sex of chinchilla offspring. (No-body has tried this one on humans.) Thedental people, or at least some of them,believe that Ott's ideas also have appli-cation to tooth decay: certain fluores-cents may cause a higher incidence ofdecay among children. And Ott's re-search results are so generally intriguingthat the Roswell Park cancer center,part of the State University of NewYork, has been conducting its own re-search to investigate some of his ideas.

In the last couple of years, with otherpeople finally following up on the oldhints, Ott could not resist sending out afew new ones. There was the time-lapseexperiment with hyperactive children ina Sarasota classroonm. Ott installed hisfull-spectrum fluorescent lighting, withspecial shields to block off the radiation(which he presumes harmful), andturned on his cameras for 180 days.After 60 days, the collective movementof the children had slowed down con-siderably, and the teacher had noticed amarked improvement in classroom be-havior and attentiveness.The lighting industry was terrified

enough to try to duplicate the experi-ment on Long Island. General Electricannounced the results: changing thelights from regular fluorescents to full-spectrum fluorescents had no effect onhyperactivity. Ott countered by point-

ing out that GE observed children foronly five days, whereas it had taken 60days before he got results in Sarasota.

Ott is gratified by his new-foundl ac-

ceptance in professional circles, but heis not satisfied. The next step is in prac-tical application. Mice are one thing.humans another, and very few peoplehave applied Ott's ideas to lighting sys-tems. Even in Sarasota. the school didnot have the funding to pernmanentlychange the lighting in the classrooms.The phone seems to ring all the tinie

at Ott's home. One of the calls he re-ceived while I was there came from acancer specialist. He was wonderingwhy all the research outfits were gettingsuch differing results from tests of thecontroversial drug Laetrile. The Lactrileissue has divided cancer research intohostile camps, and there is talk of fraudand experiment-rigging. Ott, of course,has a less accusatory answer to why peo-ple are getting different experimental re-sults: you always get conflicting resultsif the lighting isn't the sanie.

Regardless of whether this is anotherof Ott's intuitive triumphs, it is certainlyanother lead. From all the bits andpieces, Ott has created an entirely newscience. If his theory is right, hospitalswill have to be lighted with the samecare as they are sanitized. (Ott says mosthospitals use one of the worst fluores-cents, in an attempt to give a healthylook to skin.) Laboratories will -have toconsider lighting in setting up standard-ized experiments. Doctors and drugmanufacturers will have to worry notjust about the interaction of the drugsand the foods we cat, but also about thelight we take in through our eyes.Regular people will have to put ultra-violet on their list of healthy substances,and they will have to pay attention towhat they see as well as to what they eat.

Ott's career is a statement on seeingthat goes beyond the pigment epithelialand the pituitary. His successes chal-lenge scientific method as well as scien-tific fact. In this time of fat researchgrants and the onward march of ad-vanced degrees, his life is a reminderthat transcendent ideas can come froma quantum drifter and confirmed hint-dropper with no more scientific trainingthan a belief in what appears in front ofhis own two eyes.

John Rothchild lives in Florida. He lastwrotefor Mother Jones abott an Appa-lachian skills-trading co-op (April '78).

Labor Gccupatkmnal Health Program. July 1980.

IHE HAZARDS OF CLERICAL WORK

,,41 i , When you were small, were you told the

a,fi............. _fairy tale about clerical workers? It goessomething like this:

Once upon a time, women who wo'rked ini- vi>, ! a~.oceA weJLe meqey woxkding got pin money,.fifi.a)g2,^,8e X owoweXQ onty wo4king untt theyqoWndthet

'inc'Lne Chaing. The e wa e, hehy,and 4aie a patace compaLed to many wo4kptacei.(Why, anq woman comptaining about wo4ing condi-tZon6 i.En the o4i6ce aA Likened to the PAinceA.vwd.th the pea undet het matteA'6 And thetate u totd that women we/Le too dociLe towtgan4-ze togetheA into a union. BeAidez,6t1e1Bo4 woutd t ce o6 them, and cZ catoA'dkeAhu woutd Live happil evv a6tet...

For the 14 million women who are clerical workers, the true storyis very different. Although many work out of economic necessity, theyare paid an average 59t for every dollar earned by a man. Many worksecond jobs as mothers and homemakers. Although clerical work requiresdiverse skills and is often demanding, the rewards and opportunitiesare few. All around them are potential health hazards: chemicals,automated equipment, lighting, noise, and stressful conditions.

Clerical workers around the country who want to change their workplacefor the better are getting results through organized action in unions orworking women's groups. Learning about office health and safety hazardsand what to do about them is a first step in the right direction. Andthat's no fairy tale.

HAZARD HEALTH EFFECTS & PREVENTION

Video display terminals(VDTs) also known ascathode ray tubes (CRTs)which are inside the screen.

Paperwork of today is the VDT inputof tomorrow. More and more clericalworkers are working with this TV-likequipment. VDTs can cause eyestrainwith possible permanent vision damage,temporary colorblindness, headaches,tension, neck and back pain. VDTsalso emit low levels of ionizing radiationand radiqfrequency which may damage genes.Frequet rest breaks reduce harmfuleffects on vision from VDTs. VDTs shouldhave adjustable screens for user comfort.and built-i n lead screens to reduce radiatio

2

Labor Occupational Health Program, July 1980

THE HAZARDS OF CLERICAL WORK (continued)

* HAZARD HEALTtH EFFECTS AND PREVIENTION

Lighting

Ventl1 ati on

Noise

Most photocopiers emit ozone gas.Ozone irritates the eyes, nose, throat,and lungs. Ozone may also cause damageto chromosomes. A chemical used inXerox brand toner called nitropyrenemay be a potential cancer-causing agent.Photocopiers should be located in well-ventilated areas. If necessary, venti-lation ducts should be attached directlyto the copier. Ozone levels should bechecked and maintained below the OSHAstandard level (.1 parts per millionparts of air). Clerical workers shouldknow what chemicals are in the. tonerspresently being used, and make sure theydo not contain nitropyrene.

Natural liht or lighting which repro-duces the full spectrum of the sun, is

the healthiest and most comfortablelight. Flourescent lichting has beenfound to cause hyperactivity in childrenand aninalsw and is not full-spectrum light.

General ventilation In clerical offices,usually furthest from windows, is often poor.Ventilation systems have been shown tocause outbreaks of what seems to be theflu, but what is actually pneumonitis,or "humidifier lung." This occurs whenbacteria which has been allowed to buildup in the cooling fluid is dispersedthroughout the building. Badly-designedventilation systems also cary;y dustsand fumes from other parts of a pl antor from outside into clerical offices.Proper design and regular maintenanceprevent illness induced by ventilation.

Although scientists have declared 67decibels and under to be the comfortablenoise range, electric typewriters and otheroffice machines may be as loud as 80 decibels.Simple solutions such as plastic typewritershields, carpetting, and room dividershelp tone down office noise.

Photocopying machines

Labor Occupational Health Program, July 1980.

THE HAZARDS OF CLERICAL WORK (continued)

* HAZARD HEALTH EFFECTS AND PREVENTION

Opaque correction fluid Until 1979, most opaque correctionfluids contained the highly-toxicsolvent trichloroethylene, or TCE.In that year, after a 14-year-old airldied from sniffing the fluid, andafter it was found that TCE may leadto liver cancer, it was removed fromthese products. But many bottles con-taining TCE are still on the shelf.

If correcting solutions are used, keepthe bottle away from your face and coveriimediately after using.

Stenci 1 machines

Excessive wrist action

Sedentary work

Chemicals used in the mimeograph processcontain solvents which may be irritatingto the eyes, nose, and throat. Stencilsshould be made and reproduced in well-venti ated areas..

For those who must use constant, repe-titive motions of the wrist, like cashiers,typists, and keypunch operators, painfulmuscle strain can occur. Known as "key-puncher's wrist," tenosynovitis shouldreceive medical attention. Anotherproblem that may develqp as carpaltunnel'syndrome, a disabling disease ofthe'ner7es i;n the wrtst,

Many clerical workers are confined totheir desks. Sitting all day in poorly-fit chairs causes backstrain and mayimpede circulation . Smoking is anadded drawback for the clerical workerwho sits all day. Carbon monoxide fromcigarettes stays in the bloodstream longerduring low physical activity, having moreharmful effects.

3

4

Labor Occupational Health Program, July 1980

THE HAZARDS OF CLERICAL WORK (continued)

HAZARD HEALTH EFFECTS AND PREVENTION*

Stress Stress is one of the major healthhazards of clerical work. A studyfound that women clerical workershave a coronary heart disease rate of12X, much higher than the rate of 7.1%for women who don't work outside thehome. This rate is most likely re-latedto additional stress faced by the clericalworker on the job.A National Institute of OccupationalSafety and Health study of stress-relateddisease rates of 22,000 people in 130jobs found clerical workers to be thesecond highest.The low pay and status, lack of controlover workload and decisionmaking,ination all contribute to stress in theoffice job.

Clerical workers can effectively gettogether to discuss conditions whichare stressful and how to change thoseconditions. General rights and benefitssuch as those gained by unionized clericalworkers help to cut down on stress on thejob.

For a detailed bibliography and packet on the Hazards of ClericalWork, write to the Labor Occupational Health Program, Institute ofIndustrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.

Labor occupational Health Program

Institute of Industrial RelationsCenter for Labor Research and Education

University of California, Berkeley2521 Chanming Way

Berkeley, California 94720

The Occupational Health of Clerical Workers:A Selected Bibliography*

compiled by Jo MolloyMarch 1980

Air Quality

"Asbestos in the Office Air," Job Safety and Health, Vol. 4, No. 3, Mar '76, 12-14.

D . H.E .W., Industrial Exposure to Ozone, National Institute of OccupationalSafety and Health pamphlet # 74-118, 1973. (see photocopiers)

Von Eckardt, Wolf, "Office Pollution: On-the-Job Peril," Washington Post,November 10, 1979, p. 12.

Ergonomics

Stellman, Jeanne M., Ph.D., "Finding a Chair that Fits," WGorking Mother, October,1978.

Zenz, Carl, M.D., Sc.D., ed., Occupational Medicine: Principles & PracticalApplications, Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, 1975. See "carpaltunnel syndrome" and "tenosynovitis."

Lighting

Bishop, Jerry E., "'Fluorescent Lights are Found to Boost Cell Mutation Rate,"Wall Street Journal, page 29, April 28, 1977.

Collins, Belinda L:, "Windows and People: A Literature Survey," Building ScienceSeries Report 30, Jan-Oct 1974. (tibrary of Congress Cat No. 75-619123)

Leach, J.F., et al, "Measurement of the Ultraviolet doses received by officeworkers," Clinical Experiments in Dermatology, 3(1), 77-80.

Noise

Mackenzie, Susan, Noise and Office Work,, Cornell University, New York, Key IssuesSeries No. 19, 1975.

Smoking

Hawkins, L..R., "Blood Carbon Monoxide Levels as a Function of Daily CigaretteConsumption and Physical Activity," Journal of Industrial Medicine, (33)(33), 123-129, 1976.

* The Labor Occupational Health Program has a comprehensi.ve bibliograpny ofaPProximately 200 citations from which these were selected.

Occupational Health of Clerical Workerspage two

Video Display Terminals or Cathode gav Tubes

Hricko, Andrea and Janet Bertinuson, "Resource Packet: Hazards Associated withVideo Display Te sinals," availAble from Labor Occupational Health Program($1.50), 1979. (includes information of low-level radiation)

Ostberg, O., "Office Comuterisation in Sweden: Worker Participation, WorkplaceDesign Considerations, and the Reduction of Visulal Strain," (in English)

. Dept of Himn Work Sciences, Uri.versi.t' of Lulea, S-95187, Lulea, Sweden.

Work Stations with Data Terminals, DatAaaab AB, 1978. write to them at S-17S 86,Jarfalla, Sweden.

Stress

Alliance Against Sexual Coercion, Sexual Harassment at the Workplace. Availablefrom AASC, Box 1, Camridge, Mas, 02139. ($1).

D.X.E.W., (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, January 1979),"Occupational Stress Factors in Secretarial/Clerical Workers: AnnotatedResearch Bibliography and Analytic Review," Marvin J. Dainoff, Dept ofPsychology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Haynes, Suzanne G., Ph.D., et al, "Women, Work and Coronary Heart Disease: Pro-spective Findings from the Framingham Heart St:udy," to be publishedithe American Journal of Public Health, March 1980.

Job Satisfaction

Hauenstein, Louise S., et al, "Work Status, Wor-k Satisfaction, and Blood PressureAmong Married Black and White Women," PsycholoqY of Women Quarterly, Suer1977, Vol 1 (4), 334-349.

Walsh, W., wJob Et in the Office," Work Study, 22, 28-31, 1973.

Basic Texts

Hricko, Andrea, and Melanie Brunt, Working For Your Life: A Woman's Guide toJob Health Hazards, Labor Occupational Health Program and Public Citizen'sHealth Research Group4 Berkeley: 1976. (made into a film documentary)

Stellman, Jeanne M. , Ph.D., Women's fork, Womn's Health: Myths and Realities,New York: Pantheon Press, 1977.

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Workers, Fall, 1982. $12.00.- Worker's Compensaton Conference, Feb-

ruary, 1983. $10.00.

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NAME

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CITY ITATP.

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Institute of Industrial RelationsUniversity of CalforniaBerkeley, CA 94720

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