Is PVC Toxic?

Is PVC Toxic to Humans? We are often asked, “Is PVC Toxic?” Is polyvinyl chloride (PVC or “vinyl”) is toxic to humans when it is used as a building product. Or, is it only problematic during manufacturing and/or disposal? The answer is that PVC is toxic to humans throughout its life cycle. In production, carcinogens and endocrine disruptors
Read more
No Comments

Nanotechnology and Coatings

In helping our clients choose healthy building materials, I tend to be weary of coatings in general, but nanocoatings are of particular concern. In building materials, manufacturers advertise nanocoatings on carpets, upholstery, photovoltaics, and even toilets. I’ve seen these coatings used as stain repellants, waterproofing coatings or as finishes that create a smooth and easily
Read more
No Comments

Safe Cookware

safe cookware
Does Stainless Steel Leach Chemicals? There is a lot of information in the blogosphere about health and safety in cookware, but when a client asked whether stainless steel leached dangerous chemicals, I was unable to find a quick answer to her question. I decided to look into the issue of safe cookware myself. In one 2013
Read more
No Comments

What is in that New Car Smell?

Testing a new car for VOC’s and Formaldehyde Healthy Building Science recently leased a brand new 2013 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Clean Diesel for use by the inspection department.  While the car is very nice, low emissions and great mileage, it definitely has that New Car Smell.  Being the science geeks we are at HBS, I
Read more
No Comments

Not All LED’s are the Same (Addendum)

LED Dirty Electricity
Dirty Electricity Concerns? In the recent blog of September 10th, 2013, EMI and LEDs – Not all LEDs are the same! we described dirty electricity and examined several brands of CFLs and LEDs.  This blog tests several more brands of LEDs to determine which produces the least amount of LED dirty electricity . It has
Read more
No Comments

Vote for Healthy Building Science!

VOTE for Healthy Building Science
We have until November 15th to get 250 votes! Please vote for Healthy Building Science to become eligible for a $250,000 grant!  Voting requires logging in via facebook. You can only vote via facebook. Follow this link: https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/business/detail/96146 If we win we would expand our toolkits and service area – which equates to helping thousands of more
Read more
No Comments

Lead in Ceramics

lead in ceramics
Recently I was helping a client select ceramic tiles in her new home, and my initial instinct was to approve all the tiles as “healthy” without much research into their contents. I couldn’t imagine there would be any toxicity issues with lead in ceramics. Wasn’t Lead Banned in Ceramics Along with Paints? After reading that one
Read more
2 Comments

Magnetic Fields – EMF Consulting

Magnetic Fields - EMF Consulting
When performing EMF surveys many “EMF consultants” only evaluate low-frequency magnetic fields.  When folks call and say they “have an EMF meter” and are measuring “high emf,” they generally have a Gauss meter and are measuring magnetic field field strength or magnetic flux. Most Building Biologists focus on Alternating Current (AC) electromagnetic fields, and in addition
Read more
No Comments

Alliance Against Greenwash

Greenwash Green Building
Sierra Club, GreenPeace, and Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) are getting behind a new initiative called the “Alliance Against Greenwash.” Launched by Jason Grant in San Francisco, the Alliance Against Greenwash sets out to fight false advertising around environmental impacts. As wealthy corporations continue buying air-time to proclaim their greenness… there is still no third-party
Read more
No Comments

Radiation Exposure – How much is too much?

Quartzite radiation test
Radiation Exposure How Much Is “Too Much” Alex Stadtner, president of Healthy Building Science, wrote a blog in April 2012 entitled “Radioactive Granite and Quartzite – Risks from Radon” about discovering high levels of radiation in Quartzite and Granite used in residential building for items such as countertops, flooring, and bath and shower enclosures.  While
Read more
No Comments