What is transparency

               What  Is  Transparency  Anyway  ?  

Bill  Walsh  Healthy  Building  Network  www.healthybuilding.net  www.pharosproject.net  

Nexus  Webinar  August  11,  2010  

www.healthybuilding.net  

www.pharosproject.net  

EPA  Chemicals  of  concern  Announced  12/30/09  

•  Phthalates  (90%  in  Vinyl)  •  Polybrominated  diphenyl    

   ethers  (Flame  Retardants)  

•  Perfluorinated  chemicals  

       (Stain/Water  Repellants)  

•  Bisphenol  A  (epoxies)  

Where  do  we  use  them?  

Vinyl  floors  Carpets  

Vinyl  wallpaper  Polyurethane  foam  cushion    

Polycarbonate  glazing  

Epoxy  paints  &  coa=ngs  

Caulks    ………and  many  more  

What’s Getting Into Our Children

August 6, 2009

Baby bottles and toys have been found to contain phthalates, bisphenol A, and lead, all toxins that have been linked to reproductive and developmental disorders. . . . .As harmful elements detected in everyday household items increase, rates of chronic disease have also risen sharply - and these conditions are now the leading causes of childhood illness and death.

Nicholas  D.  Kristof  

Chemicals and Our Health

However careful you are about your health, your body is almost certainly home to troubling chemicals called phthalates. . . . . and many scientists have linked them to everything from sexual deformities in babies to obesity and diabetes.

July 16, 2009

Nichols  D.  Kristof  

Do Toxins Cause Autism?

February  24,  2010  

. . . .suspicions are growing that one culprit may be chemicals in the environment  

Precautionary principle . . . . avoid most plastics marked at the bottom as 3 (PVC/Vinyl) , 6 and 7 because they are the ones associated with potentially harmful toxins.  

Nicholas  D.  Kristof  

The Little Princes of Denmark Why do Danes have smaller nuts than Finns—are toxins to blame? By Florence Williams

Posted Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010, at 9:41 AM ET  

. . . . Why should you care if you're neither Danish nor Finnish? Because the answer involves environmental toxins that have made their way around the globe.  

"It turns out the chemical burden is not the same" for Danish and Finnish baby boys, says researcher Main, who was surprised by the finding. "It's higher here. The higher your burden, as measured in breast milk, the higher the risk of undescended testes."  

Source:    Large  Effects  from  Small  Exposures.  I.  Mechanisms  for  Endocrine-­‐DisrupDng  Chemicals  with  Estrogenic  AcDvity  Wade  V.  Welshons,1  KrisBna  A.  Thayer,2  Barbara  M.  Judy,1  Julia  A.  Taylor,1  Edward  M.  Curran,1  and  Frederick  S.  vom  Saal2  hQp://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2003/5494/5494.html  

How  does  the  green  labeling  industry  deal  with  these  chemicals?  

70  household  dust  samples  -­‐  10  states    

     Phthalate  plasYcizers  ubiquitous  ReproducYve  toxicant  

Clean  ProducYon  AcYon  2005  

asthma  trigger  

obesity  

Chemicals  of  Concern  in  a    

LEED  PlaYnum  Building?  

Almost  Certainly.  

High BPA levels linked to male sexual problems

Study in China is likely to bring further scrutiny of the common chemical

By Lyndsey Layton ���Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 11, 2009  

More  Emerging  Materials  Issues  

Bisphenol  A  -­‐  BPA  

July 22, 2009

Did You Know...... that Some Building Products May Expose You to the Chemical Banned from Plastic Bottles?

Phthalates  90%  Used  in  Vinyl  :  Bad  For  Kids  

December  2009,  EPA  lists  as  a  “Chemical  of  Concern”  

Banned  In  Toys   Not  In  Nurseries  

Styrofoam  XPS  containing  the  highly  persistent  and  toxic  brominated  flame  retardant  HBCD    received  Cradle  2  Cradle  Silver  

USGBC  Takes  on  the  2030  Challenge  Natural  Step  System  CondiYon  2:  In  order  for  a  society  to  be  sustainable,  nature's  funcYons  and  diversity  are  not  systemaYcally  subject  to  increasing  concentraDons  of  substances  produced  by  society.    

Halogenated  flame  retardants  (PBDE):    

•   disrupt  thyroid  and  estrogen  hormones  

•   developmental  effects  on  brain  &  

     reproducDve  systems  (reduced  sperm  count)    

TRADE SECRET

Low  fat!  

•  A  week        A  week  aDer  he  arrived  at  the  agency  in  July,  Steve  Owens,  assistant  administrator  for  the  EPA's  Office  of  Preven=on,  Pes=cides  and  Toxic  Substances,  ended  confiden=ality  protec=on  for  530  chemicals.  In  those  cases,  manufacturers  had  claimed  secrecy  for  chemicals  they  had  promoted  by  name  on  their  Web  sites  or  detailed  in  trade  journals.  

January  4,  2010  

   Increasingly  Available  Product  Data  

                                             (carbon  footprints)  

                                       (chemicals  of  concern)  

                   (treatment  of  workers/communiYes)  

                                                                   +  

             Web  2.0  Technology  

____________________________  

Era  of  Radical  Transparency  

•  From  billion-­‐dollar  nonprofits  to  single-­‐person  dot.causes,  these  groups  collec=vely  comprise  the  largest  movement  on  earth,  a  movement  that  has  no  name,  leader,  or  loca=on,  and  that  has  gone  largely  ignored  by  poli=cians  and  the  media.  

•   Like  nature  itself,  it  is  organizing  from  the  boTom  up,  in  every  city,  town,  and  culture.  and  is  emerging  to  be  an  extraordinary  and  crea=ve  expression  of  people's  needs  worldwide.  

Meaningful  Transparency:  

 What’s  in  it?  –  Customer,  Occupant  Concerns  

How  was  it  made?  Global  Environmental  PerspecDve  

Where  did  it  come  from?  OccupaDonal/Community                                          Health  

 Customer  ExpectaYon  Create  Transparency  

•  Design  firm  

•  ConstrucYon  firm  

•  Health  care  provider  

RFI          Manufacturers  

Data  

Data  &  Analysis  

What  Is  Transparency  Anyway  ?  

It’s  not  only  inevitable.      

It’s  going  to  be  easier  than  you  think.