Building Biology Blog

From NaturalHealth365 comes this You Can’t Make This Stuff Up article.

(NaturalHealth365) Have you ever felt sick after flying, only to assume it’s jetlag or a virus you picked up from another passenger? Well, think again!  You might have been exposed to an insecticide, pesticides or other toxic chemicals – deliberately used by airline staff.

I think airline passengers should be outraged to know that poisonous chemicals are now being sprayed on planes regularly – DURING the flight, while travelers are inside the plane, This is true – the United States government is actually pushing this agenda of poisoning passengers.

Read the article and see the disturbing video here.

From the Los Angeles Times comes another article questioning the safety of 5G. It features some input by Joel M. Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

As wireless companies prepare to launch the next generation of service, there are new questions about the possible health risks from radiation emitted by cellphones and the transmitters that carry the signals.

Concerns about the potential harmful effects of radiofrequency radiation have dogged mobile technology since the first brick-sized cellphones hit the market in the 1980s.

Industry and federal officials have largely dismissed those fears, saying the radiation exposure is minimal and that the devices are safe. Incidences of and deaths from brain cancer have shown little change in recent years despite the explosion in cellphone usage, they note.

But the launch of super-fast 5G technology over the next several years will dramatically increase the number of transmitters sending signals to cellphones and a host of new Internet-enabled devices, including smart appliances and autonomous vehicles. And the move to the new technology comes after unsettling findings from a long-awaited federal government study of the cancer risk from cellphone use.

National Toxicology Program researchers released preliminary data in May that showed small increases in tumors in male rats exposed to cellphone radiation.

The rats were exposed to nine hours of radiation daily, in 10-minutes-on, 10-minutes-off intervals, over their whole bodies for two years. The researchers found increased incidences of rare brain and heart tumors starting at about the federally allowable level of cellphone radiation for brain exposure, with greater incidences at about two and four times those levels.

Read the entire article here.

Dr. William Rae, MD, Director of the Environmental Health Center in Dallas, suggests that our bodies are like a rain barrel. Every day we dump in pollutants in the form of the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Some of the pollutants are stored in our body’s adipose (fat) tissue, while some is used for energy, and the rest is expelled.  Each person has a different threshold for tolerating pollutants in our environment, or using Dr. Rae’s analogy, a different size barrel. Over time, if that barrel becomes full, as toxins accumulate in our bodies,  it will “overflow” and the result will be allergic reactions or hyper-sensitivity to environmental chemicals.

Every finish in a home should be carefully considered for its health consequences. Let’s look at paint as one example: Many available paints contain chemicals that are listed as Hazardous Air Pollutants with the EPA. Although initial clean air regulations were enacted as early as the late 18th century during the Industrial Revolution, it was only in 1955 that the need for a National Air Pollution Control Act was realized. The Clean Air Act, as it is called since 1963, covers a wide range of air pollutants that contaminate outdoor as well as indoor air. Since volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contribute greatly to ground-level ozone, which is a major component of smog, the EPA sets VOC emission guidelines for consumer products, architectural coatings and automobile refinish coatings. VOC content of flat coatings is limited to 250 g/l therein. However After a fresh paint application, indoor VOC levels can increase up to 1,000 times compared to outdoor levels.

To read this and all 13 topics in our series, visit our home page and click the topic of your choice.

GREEN BANK, W.Va. (KDKA) — Would you believe there’s a place where no one can use a cell phone? Where Wi-Fi is not allowed? Where even finding a radio station can be a difficult task?

There’s a town in West Virginia a few hours to south of Pittsburgh where all that is true.

Green Bank is a place where you can hear nature. Where you can hear yourself think. And that’s because some very important listening is going on.

You see, Green Bank is home to the largest moveable radio telescope in the world.

“For people in the immediate area of the telescope, we really need the quiet,” said Jay Lockman from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

They’re trying to pick up very faint signals from outer space, so people in this small town can’t have some of today’s modern conveniences.

Read the entire article at the KDKA Pittsburgh website.

IBE Board Member and EcoNest Architecture founder Paula Baker-Laporte has just authored an article on the possible health impacts of photovoltaics for Mother Earth News.

She begins by asking if “photovoltaic installations have negative health impacts?”

I am often asked this question by people who want to practice sound ecological citizenry and who also care about the health of their family.

Effects from Electrical Frequencies Detected

While the negative impact of some common chemicals is at last widely recognized and popular green certifications now reward or demand reduction of chemicals, there is very little discussion about the harmful effects of man-made electrical frequencies or measures that can be taken to reduce exposure.

The jury is still out in the world of industry-sponsored and independent research, but there is a fast-growing segment of the population who feels ill from our ever-increasing use of electricity and wireless frequencies.

Read the entire article at the Mother Earth news website.

Learn all about Building Biology, our 25 guiding principles, steps you can take to create a healthier indoor environment, and other useful information by downloading our PDF, Making Better Choices for Healthier Environments.

From before recorded history human beings have constructed shelters. Though floor space and investment value may factor in, the primary job of every home is to create an environment that allows this biological mystery called human life to flourish.

Have you ever spent time in a building that embraced and nurtured you…body and soul, one that awakened and delighted your senses? Imagine being in a forest, near a gently flowing clear mountain stream. The sun is shining and its rays warm your face. A fragrant breeze lightly brushes your skin as your footsteps trod upon the soft loam of the earth beneath your feet. You can experience these sensations once again when you enter your own home, provided your home has been built in accordance with the laws of nature. In order for us to be truly natural and healthy, our homes need to supply us with adequate opportunity to rest and relax, they need to nurture, as it is only through that, that we can truly recuperate at the end of the day and recharge with the strength to deal with the next day’s emotional and physical stresses.

Materials that are not natural don’t resonate with us, and therefore don’t nourish us – they deplete us. Nature is our ultimate guide.

Learn all about Building Biology, our 25 guiding principles, steps you can take to create a healthier indoor environment, and other useful information by downloading our PDF, Making Better Choices for Healthier Environments.

It’s not just about the cancer risk. From The Washington Post comes this article which explores an ever-increasing list of physical ailments resulting from our increasing reliance on digital devices.

The author begins ”

As I type these words, there’s nerve-tingling in my ring finger. My neck is fatigued. My forearms ache. Just like everyone else, I spend too much time typing on a keyboard or tapping on a screen. Devices out, heads down, thumbs scrolling.

I should know better. As a writer who relies on tech, I’m in the vanguard of the Digital Age’s physical fallout, a canary in the cyber coal mine.

“Text neck”? Got it. “Cellphone elbow” or cubital tunnel syndrome? Yep. Tendinitis? Check. For well over a decade, there have been months when I couldn’t type an email. Or pick up a piece of paper, let alone my children.”

Read the entire article here.

“Drunk on Wireless: Public Health Consequences of Cell Phone and Wireless Technologies are Begging for Society’s Attention” at the Left Forum 2016 in New York City featured Camilla Rees,MBA of Electromagnetic Health.org, public health physician Dr. David Carpenter, Director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at University at Albany, Dr. Martin Blank, retired Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University, and Dr. Martin Pall, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences at Washington State University. Wrapping up the scientific presentations and putting the present public health situation related to electromagnetic fields in historical, philosophical and spiritual perspectives was radio host Duncan Campbell, Esq., of Living Dialogues™. The EMF programs at the Left Forum were sponsored by Occupy EMF Harm and organized by ElectromagneticHealth.org. This program was followed by a second program “Electromagnetic Pollution Solutions” which will be available soon.

This video is 70 minutes long, well worth watching, and can be found here.

An invisible killer had infiltrated Sto-Rox High School.

When workers installed a cell tower on top of the school outside Pittsburgh, no one realized the exhaust spewed by its diesel generator was being sucked into the building’s ventilation system and inhaled by everyone inside. This is stuff you really do not want in your teen’s homeroom: Diesel fumes contain particulate matter and chemicals like benzene and arsenic, which in the long term increase the risk of lung cancer and in the short term cause breathing problems and dull the mind. But lucky for the Sto-Rox students, they had Joe Krajcovic—and a Speck.

Krajcovic had installed this new device in his science classroom as a school project. The Speck measures airborne particulate pollution, which increases the risk for and exacerbates symptoms of respiratory problems like asthma. Krajcovic’s class was analyzing the data gathered by the sensor to learn about indoor air quality when they noticed spikes in particle levels every few hours. Those coincided with the generator’s daily schedule: Whenever it kicked on to power the tower’s battery, particulate pollution increased, says Speck developer Illah Nourbakhsh, a robotics researcher at nearby Carnegie Mellon University. After parsing this unnerving data, Krajcovic filed a grievance, and the tower was moved.

But that is just one school, in one corner of Pennsylvania. Right now, there’s essentially no way of knowing how many schools and homes and offices are being filled with pollutants from diesel generators on rooftops, highway overpasses down the block or some other source spitting out invisible killers in your face all year long.

Your life depends on good air. Every year, air pollution causes the premature deaths of between 5.5 million and 7 million people, making it more deadly than HIV, traffic accidents and diabetes combined. The majority of these deaths—about 4 million—are caused by indoor air pollution, primarily in developing countries. But it takes a toll in developed countries as well. In Europe, for example, air pollution shortens the average life expectancy by nearly one year. Worldwide, more than 80 percent of people living in urban areas breathe air that exceeds pollution limits advised by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Read the entire article at Newsweek Magazine.