Keeping Your Family Safe Program - Talks about Asbestos

Monday, Jan. 12, 2009, we had the pleasure of interviewing Linda Reinstein, the Executive Director and co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization for our internet radio program “Keeping Your Family Safe" (see below for the website information). In our program, we discussed the dangers of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials. We covered the following points:

• More than 10,000 Americans die of asbestos caused diseases every year.
• India has the highest exposure to asbestos and is the second largest importer of asbestos.
• Worker exposure also affects family members at home.
• Asbestos – there is no ban, and has been listed as a human carcinogen for over 30 years.
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the World Health Organization, and the International Labor Organization, all believe that there is no safe exposure level to asbestos and that asbestos kills.
• Asbestos has a long legacy because it is virtually indestructible.
• Friable is a measure of asbestos’ ability to become airborne. Though an asbestos-containing building material may not be friable, that material can still release asbestos if homeowners work on it.
• Over 3,000 products contain asbestos.
• Once asbestos enters the body, especially the lungs, it is difficult to get the asbestos out of the body.
• Health effects – non-malignant and malignant diseases. Asbestosis, mesothelioma, lung, gastro-intestinal, and kidney cancers, pleural thickening, and pleural plaques all are life threatening. All reduce the ability to breathe.
• Construction and building trades are typically exposed to asbestos.

For more information download the podcast at http://www.voiceamerica.com/ click on the Green Talk Network and find the Keeping Your Family Safe host page. There you can download the podcast of the show and listen to it at your leisure.
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) (visit there website at http://www.adao.us/) is an all volunteer organization dedicated to offering education, resources, and support to asbestos awareness. The ADAO is working hard on establishing a ban on asbestos (visit the following website to join the ban or for more information http://www.banasbestos.us/). In addition, the ADAO is sponsoring the 5th Annual Asbestos Awareness Day Conference on March 27-29, 2009 at the Manhattan Beach Marriott, California (visit the following website for more information http://www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org/). This Monday, January 19, 2009, we will be interviewing Dr. Harriet Burge of the Harvard School of Public Health regarding microbial sampling.

Keeping Your Family Safe Program - Talks about Lead Paint

Happy New Year everyone. On Monday, January 5, 2009 I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Eileen Franko, the Director of the Bureau of Occupational Health within the New York State Department of Health on my radio program "Keeping Your Family Safe." The interview was on lead paint hazards and we discussed the use of lead in paint, the health effects, the laws and regulations, and proper procedures for working with lead paint hazards.
During our interview Dr. Franko and I discussed:

• In 1978, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reduced the amount of allowable lead in homeowner, interior, exterior, furniture, and toy paints and varnishes to less than 0.06%.
• However, prior to 1978 paints and varnishes had lead added to them while paints and varnishes prior to 1950s could be up to 50% lead.
• Intact lead paint is not a hazard.
• Any activity that generates particles, dust, or debris can cause lead exposure.
• Lead exposure typically happens by ingesting (through contaminating food or drinks, and hand to mouth exposure primarily for children) or inhalation (breathing in the dust or particles).
• Lead exposure health effects for children include brain damage,nerve damage, reduced intelligence (IQ), learning problems, hearing problems, behavorial issues, and death. 2002 was the last death of a child from lead poisoning.
• Lead exposure health effects foradults include infertility, high blood pressure, teratogen effects, and lead can cross the placenta causing poisoning of the unborn child.
• Any blood lead is too much lead and the only way to determine the amount of lead in the body is through a blood test. Over 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood is considered elevated for kids and adults. For workers working with lead the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a construction industry standard of 50 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood.
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), OSHA, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have regulations on handling lead based coatings.
• Before performing work on buildings built prior to 1978, owners, occupants, and tenants should consider lead paint. Those considerations should include:
  - minimizing dust utilizing wet methods and practices to limit the creation of dust.
  - dust collection with vacuums with HEPA filtering.
  - the use of protective equipment such as respirators with HEPA filters, disposable suits and gloves.
  - use plastic to protect areas where dust is unwanted or to limit dust into areas where work is being performed.
  - remove furniture and other items to limit what is contaminated with lead dust.

Our next program will be Monday, February 12, 2009 at 2 PM eastern time. We will be interviewing Mrs. Linda Reinstein, the Executive Director of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, discussing the asbestos hazard. We hope you will join us.

Tenant Notification Law Goes Into Effect.

Governor David Patterson on September 4, 2008 signed into law Chapter 521 of 2008 going into effect on December 3, 2008. This act amended the environmental conservation law, in relation to the notification of test results. The law defines test results to include results of tests on indoor air, sublab air, ambient air, subslab groundwater samples, and subslab soil samples.
The law requires if test results exceed New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) indoor air guidelines, or Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines for indoor air quality the owner of the real property or the owner’s agent shall provide a fact sheet to all tenants and occupants. In addition, the owner shall provide timely notice of any public meetings required to be held to discuss such results to all tenants and occupants. If tenants and occupants request, the owner shall provide test results and any closure letter, within 15 daysof receipt of such results. Should the property have an engineering control in place or is subject to ongoing monitoring the law requires the owner or the agent, upon request, to provide fact sheets, test results or closure letters prior to the signing of a binding lease or rental agreeement with any prospective tenant. In addition, notice shall be included in the rental or lease agreement stating "NOTIFICATION OF TEST RESULTS The property has been tested for contamination of indoor air: test results and additional information are available upon request."

This law was put into place to provide rights to tenants and occupants to access test results and information regarding the contamination of the property they lease, rent, or occupy.

Angelo Garcia, III joins Voice America's New Green Talk Network

Future Environment Designs is proud to announce that Angelo Garcia, III has joined Voice America's new Green Talk Network hosting the internet radio talk show "Keeping Your Family Safe," click on the title to go to the network's website. The "Keeping Your Family Safe" internet radio program will provide the homeowner with the knowledge they need to help them protect their family from the various environmental and safety hazards encountered doing home improvements or other work around the home. "Keeping Your Family Safe" will discuss, with various guests, typical home improvement hazards such as asbestos, lead, PCBs, mold, formaldehyde, and pesticides. Our radio program will also discuss proper use of safety equipment, recognizing a good environmental contractor/consultant, green cleaning, and water testing. Our first show is scheduled for Monday, January 5, 2008 at 2 PM Eastern Time. In our first show we will interview Dr. Eileen Franko of the New York State Department of Health regarding statistics showing lead poisoning of children from home improvements done by the parents unaware of lead paint in the home. Join us on Mondays starting on January 5, 2008 at 2 PM Eastern Time to learn more.

NYC Building Department Changes Go Into Effect in 2009

New York City Building Department (NYC DOB) is making many changes in the way building sites are run in 2009. The changes are designed to increase safety and affect how business is done with the NYC DOB. Examples of these changes include:

• A concrete safety manager must be designated on all "major buildings" during the concrete portion of the project to promote safer concrete operations.


• All high-rise construction sites, will require a licensed site safety manager to peform inspections to ensure construction sites are properly maintained. The site safey manager shall maintain two new site safety logs (maintenance and permit logs) documenting the inspections.


• The new training requirements under Local Law 41 of 2008 requiring all workers, at "major buildings," to complete a 10 Hour course in construction safety approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was extended to July 1, 2009. (The class must have been taken within the past 5 years).

Click on the title for the link to the NYC DOB website for more information.

NYC Department of Health Revises Mold Guidelines

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) has updated their "Guidelines on Assessment and Remediation of Fungi in Indoor Environments". This document supersedes all prior editions of the guidelines. The document was prepared by the Environmental and Occupational Disease Epidemiology Unit of NYC DOHMH. This update includes discussions on visual inspections, environmental sampling, moisture control & building repair, worker training, cleaning methods, quality assurance indicators, restoring treated spaces and the usual remediation procedures. In addition, the update includes a fact sheet for Building Owners & Managers. Click on the title to link up with the NYC website that has this document.

Senator Obama vs Senator McCain

With the Presidential election only days away, it is interesting to review what the candidates have said in regards to the environmental, occupational safety and health industry. The link above follows comments made by both candidates regarding Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Below are highlights from Indoor Environment Connection's (http://www.ieconnections.com/) article regarding Indoor Air Quality "Obama and McCain - How Do They Differ on IAQ Issues?"

Senator Barack Obama has said he will conduct "a thorough overhaul" of the policies of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and direct the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to increase resources to the problems of mold and radon abatement.

• establish a program to educate building owners & homeowners on indoor air treatment and source abatement options.
• a central part of Obama's proposed environmental policy is his promise to "create millions of new green jobs."
• ensure 10% of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, & 25% by 2025.
• setting aggressive energy efficiency goal to reduce electricity demand 15% from projected levels by 2020.
• a national commitment to weatherize at least one million low-income homes each year for the next decade.
• implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce grenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050.
• national health tracking system that would enable the government to determine links between environmental conditions and health problems.

Senator John McCain has been quoted as saying "air quality standards need to be more stringent."

• McCain has focused on dealing with climate changes.
• will use a portion of environmental credit auction proceeds to reduce impacts on low-income families.
• will incorporate measures to mitigate any economic cost of meeting emission targets, including trading emission permits to find the lowest-cost source of emission reductions.
• McCain envisions permitting America to lead in innovation, capture the market on low-carbon energy production and export to developing countries.
• McCain's plan "will address the full range of issues: infrastructure, ecosystems, resource planning and emergency preparation."
• In addition, McCain wnats to continue the "Clear Skies" initiative that was begun under President Bush, which concentrates on reducing mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.

Senator Obama has said he supports the "Green" building construction bill while Senator McCain supports the principles behind the bill but is "not convinced that a new federal spending program is the best way to achieve this goal." The "Green" building construction bill would spend more than $20 billion over the next 5 years to help states build and renovate schools to make them more energy-efficient and environment-friendly, including efforts to improve the school's indoor air quality. The measure is intended to save school districts billions in energy costs while reducing asthma and other environmentally linked health problems.

On Tuesday, November 4, 2008 the United States of America goes to the polls to vote in one of the most historic presidential races of our times. It has been said a number of times already but this is easily the most important election we have had in a long time. So I would encourage all of you to go and vote. If you don't you will only have yourself to blame!