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Natural Resources Defense Council,
"This Old House" Expose a Lousy Product
By Robert Horowitz
The image of fiberglass insulation suffered some well-deserved blows recently,
with the release of a report on insulation by the Natural Resources Defense
Council, and with the publication of an article entitled "Fear of
Fiberglass: Do you want your children breathing this stuff?" in This Old
House magazine.
The report by the NRDC, entitled "Keeping Warm and Staying Healthy"
compares and contrasts the environmental attributes, health impacts and
effectiveness of fiberglass insulation and two of its main competitors:
cellulose and cotton. The report concludes the alternatives are
just-as-effective insulators, without the negative health impacts of fiberglass.
NRDC Senior Scientist Allen Hershkowitz cautioned people against removing
fiberglass insulation already in place, but also chastised the fiberglass
industry and federal regulators.
"The fiberglass industry needs to better protect homeowners and installers
by making a safer product, and the government needs to set worker safety
standards for installers," said Hershkowitz.
The NRDC report noted blown-in fiberglass results in the greatest exposure to
workers, and that fiberglass installers have the greatest occupational risk.
Other points in the report:
- Cellulose may actually insulate better than fiberglass and can be cost competitive.
- Cellulose may be a respiratory irritant, but not on the order of fiberglass,
- The production of cellulose insulation uses ten times less energy than is used during the production of fiberglass, and four times less energy in production than cotton.
- Cotton insulation is just as effective as either fiberglass or cellulose, has fewer documented health risks than fiberglass, and is easy to install, but is not widely available.
- OSHA should establish guidelines for fiberglass insulation installers, and should require protective clothing and equipment, including respirators,
- Respirators should be included in the protective gear recommended by fiberglass manufacturers and the building industry for the blowing wool process,
- People, particularly children, should stay out of areas where blown-in insulation of all kinds has been used.
Anjanette DeCarlo, author of the NRDC report, spent months meeting with representatives of the various industries, touring plants, and talking with health experts and regulators. After "Keeping Warm and Staying Healthy" was released Sept. 12, not only did the fiberglass industry attack the NRDC, it attacked DeCarlo.
"They have a highly skilled group of people who are on guard, ready to go with responses and rebuttals," she said. "They're very cutting... ferocious. A lot of these same people were fighting the asbestos battle; they're very touchy about everything, very sensitive and easily provoked... it makes one wonder what they're hiding."
Once NRDC became involved in the recycled content issue, the healthy house issue came into focus, said DeCarlo. Upon further investigation, DeCarlo was "amazed" at the power of the fiberglass industry to control the debate in the media and intimidate the government.
The fiberglass industry claims the testing methods used by government researchers to show fiberglass as carcinogenic are flawed, noted DeCarlo. The media repeats these claims without questioning. Yet, when the newest industry-sponsored studies were reviewed and re-reviewed by the government, she noted, the unanimous vote to list fiberglass as a carcinogen was unchanged. When the listing was officially announced-more than three years late-publications like the Washington Post scoffed at the government scientists and repeated the industry line. Many publications didn't report the listing at all.
"The power they have to suppress that and belittle the (National Toxicology Program) is astonishing," remarked DeCarlo.
Among the revelations of Susan Seager's story is that some 65 percent of homes with forced-air heating systems have leaks in those systems. These leaks can suck up fiberglass insulation, particularly blown-in fiberglass, and spread it around the house. A 1990 study in Florida found leaky ducts in 85 percent of the homes tested. This Old House, a Time Warner publication with a circulation of some 500,000, is loosely connected with the popular home repair show on public television.
VOF phone line has been buzzing since Seager's story came out. Victims of fiberglass have been calling VOF for help at an unprecedented rate.
Obtain your copy of "Keeping Warm and Staying Healthy."
