Ill? It May Be Your Work Site

[Guest guest]

http://www.nydailynews.com/archive/97_07/071397/news_ & _v/27511.htm

Ill? It May Be Your Work Site

Sick building syndrome is legit health problem

By SUSAN FERRARO

Daily News Staff Writer

In 1996, Lucille Farucci-Costa, 39, moved into a new computer room at the

company where she had worked for decades — and fell mysteriously ill.

It started like a mild flu. " I had that butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling,

it was that gentle,' " said Farucci-Costa, who commutes from Queens to her

job in the offices of a Manhattan department store.

She got better while on a vacation, but back on the job in the 11-story

building felt sick again — really sick. Co-workers mentioned they were

feeling nauseous, too.

For Farucci-Costa, the symptoms multiplied: She was tired all the time and

her hair fell out. She lost her appetite, and had skin problems and an upset

stomach. She wondered about the leak in the ceiling over her work station,

and the green mold that clung to it; she worried about sitting in a small

room jammed with computers.

Company and union doctors said her problem was psychosomatic or caused by

stress, she said. But unofficially, one told her to get out of her work

place, and an allergist said she seemed to be having a reaction to something

at work.

The vague collection of maladies that had turned her life into a misery is

what believers call " sick building syndrome " (SBS).

It's so hard to identify and support with hard data that government

officials keep no records on it. But SBS is increasingly recognized as a

legitimate health problem. It is spawning new research and treatments in

health care, and new thinking in architecture and interior design.

Today, 18 months after her illness started, Farucci-Costa is still sick —

she still has skin problems, and she is too nauseous to eat her favorite

foods and too tired to go dancing.

" I was the big mouth, " she said. " I went to the union, I called hospitals, I

called the health department. " But now, she admitted, she might have to quit

her job — " everything I've worked 23 years to earn. "

Officially identified in the early 1970s but often ignored or dismissed as

imaginary, sick building syndrome is suddenly getting respect.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has held public

hearings and suggested guidelines, said Fleming, OSHA spokeswoman.

Last week, the syndrome made news in Washington when a group of federal

employees protested over indoor air-quality problems in government

buildings, including the Environmental Protection Agency building.

Experts estimate that as many as 20 million to 30 million office workers may

be affected by SBS to some degree.

And victims are demanding attention. As Farucci-Costa put it, " I will be

proven right. I will not be labeled a loon. "

Experts say the sickest buildings can spread lethal bacteria, as in

Legionnaire's disease. Some workers would broaden the definition of SBS to

include the spread of common germs that cause colds and the flu.

But SBS is often more serious, harder to nail down and more individual — a

kind of indoor pollution that began to take its toll 20 years ago, when

building codes were changed to allow energy-efficient structures with sealed

windows. They saved money and energy, but when bad stuff got in, it stayed

there.

The best that doctors have been able to determine is that most SBS sufferers

have an allergic reaction to what gets trapped indoors. The usual suspects

are molds and fungi that build up around leaks, and common " volatile organic

compounds " that turn to gas at room temperature.

Those compounds enter buildings via rugs, which can have formaldehyde in

them, cleaning products, copying machines, new furnishings and partitions,

and paints.

Heat, humidity, noise, lighting and bad design can also play a part: an

air-intake vent badly placed over a loading dock can pull diesel fumes into

a building.

Symptoms range from nausea and headaches to dizziness, disorientation,

confusion, tingling hands and even hearing loss. There is no sure cure, and

no end in sight: A recent study by British doctors estimates that up to 30%

of new or renovated buildings have the conditions that can trigger SBS.

Though patients also can have sensitivity to chemicals in their home or

recreational activities, they are perhaps most vulnerable in the work place,

where they have virtually no control over their environment.

" There are workers who feel they have been so seriously affected that they

must leave their jobs or go to work in different buildings, " said Dr. Larry

Fine of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH),

part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It happened to Jeanne Mellon, a business librarian who worked in a high-rise

in Manhattan. Mellon was 39 when she developed migraine headaches, extreme

fatigue and a feeling of disorientation and jumpiness after her building was

renovated with new carpets. Chemicals in carpets are known to generate

allergic responses, some serious.

Mellon's doctor didn't understand, and even her mother and sisters had a

hard time accepting that she was sick.

Mellon had to quit her job and today, 10 years later, remains on disability.

Limited in where she can go or shop, Mellon said she can " only walk so far

without getting tired. "

Perhaps the hardest part is a feeling of isolation. " I have trouble visiting

friends because, if they have carpeting, I usually can't tolerate it, " she

said.

Much of her social life comes through HEAL, the Human Ecology Action League,

a national support group for SBS people with a chapter in New York.

Neither OSHA nor the Environmental Protection Agency nor any of the state or

city agencies have indoor air-quality regulations, said Yellin,

assistant director of the Manhattan OSHA office. That makes SBS hard to

track.

But a NIOSH spokeswoman said requests for investigations into indoor

pollution have jumped from 2% of all complaints in 1980 to 35% to 65% in

recent years. And at least 41 medical studies on SBS were done in 1996-97.

Some experts believe SBS is a silent epidemic that will explode in the 21st

century. " Since World War II, there have been more than 70,000 chemicals

synthesized with no adequate human trials, " said Dr. Adrienne Buffaloe, who

last year founded Healthcare for the 21st Century, a practice specializing

in multiple chemical sensitivity.

Dr. Kinney of the Columbia University School of Public Health said

that though little is known about it, SBS could be " a real health concern, "

possibly more serious than outdoor air pollution like auto exhaust and

factory emissions.

" The rise in asthma in the last 15 years, in most developed countries in the

world, is probably related to some extent to indoor air pollution, " Kinney

said. " Plus, there's just more stuff to be allergic to, more chemicals being

put in the environment. "

Though symptoms vary, there are two basic medical approaches to SBS: treat

the workspace, or treat the worker.

The Mount Sinai Medical Center environmental and occupational medicine

division sees thousands of patients a year, said Dr. Richman, who

specializes in diseases caused by work exposure. Because SBS is preventable,

she emphasizes stopping pollution at its source.

Though improvements cost money for building owners, " the cost element should

never be used as an excuse to not providing a healthy work place, " Richman

said. And improvements save over time in less absenteeism. Some even result

in more efficient and cheaper systems.

But for some patients, SBS becomes a crippling disorder.

In 1993, Farentinos was transferred from her job in Manhattan,

where she worked as an administrative clerk for a government agency, to the

same job in a New Jersey building. It had new furnishings, strong odors of

cleaning solvents and other chemicals. " I became very ill from day one, "

Farentinos said.

Her symptoms ranged from severe hoarseness to coughing, choking, diarrhea,

headaches, palpitations, disorientation and difficulty breathing.

Again and again, the life-long Brooklyn resident returned to work. Again and

again she was driven out by her reaction to fumes from, for instance, rugs

shampooed over the weekend or a fragrance used to mask odors. Returning to

the Manhattan office helped — but then she ran into new glues and chemicals.

Farentinos finally left her job in March 1995. Now 61, she said she is

running out of money and her social life revolves around HEAL. She has lost

weight, dropping to 93 pounds. " I was 36-23-37, my measurements for years,

but now I am a size 4. Nothing fits, " she said. She's even allergic to the

paper and ink in books and newspapers.

On oxygen for airway disease, Farentinos spends her days in her apartment.

" I am like the canary they put in the coal mine, " Farentinos said. " There is

nowhere I am safe. I am just like a prisoner in my own body. "

Original Story Date: July 13, 1997

Original Story Section: City Central