Many people regularly work in "sick buildings": buildings in which allergy-inducing molds and mites are embedded in the carpeting, and organisms that can cause Legionnaires Disease and other types of pneumonias breed in ventilation ducts and air filters.

      In a five-year study conducted by the EPA and disclosed on 10/25/87, scientists were surprised to find that some potentially toxic air pollutants are found at levels up to 100 times higher indoors than outdoors. The levels were still ten times higher after six months. Even in buildings that had been occupied for a while, levels were still two to five times higher than outside.

      Offices, schools, hospitals and nursing homes studied in Washington, Fairfax, VA., Boston, Worcester, Mass., Martinsburg, W. Va., and Research Triangle Park, N.C., identified about 500 different chemicals.
      Some of the pollutants considered to be potentially carcinogenic:
      * benzene---produced from cigarette smoke
      * p-dichlorobenzene---from moth crystals and common air fresheners
      * tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethane and p-xylene---from dry-cleaned clothes
      * radon---a naturally occurring gas formed by the decay of radium.

      Other indoor pollutants include chloroform, styrene and trichloroethylene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, asbestos, viruses and bacteria.
      Likely sources: cleansers, propellants, cosmetics and building materials such as resins, insulation and adhesives, paints and paint strippers, cleaning solutions, telephone and computer cables, carpets, linoleum, latex caulk and particle board.

      The EPA estimates that as many as 20,000 cancer deaths a year are caused by exposure to high levels of radon; 3500 to 6500 cancer deaths caused by exposure to other indoor pollutants.

      In office buildings, asbestos from ceiling, floor tiles and insulation is linked to scarred lungs, cancer and asbestosis. Formaldehyde from furniture, paneling, carpeting, drapes, partitions and glues are linked to headaches, sore throats, fatigue, rashes, nausea, dizziness, irritated eyes and respiratory problems. Bacteria and fungi from dirty bathrooms and poorly maintained air circulation systems cause allergies, asthma and infectious diseases. Carbon monoxide seeping in through vents and duct work from garages and loading docks can cause fatigue, headaches and confusion. Second-hand tobacco smoke is implicated in nausea, eye, nose and throat irritation and headaches.

            Man-made chemicals emitted from copy machines, felt-tip pens, drapes and carpets are linked to cancer, birth defects and damaged livers and kidneys.

      A five-member team from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C., reported in the April 8, 1988 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, that disease and fever risk was 45 percent greater in modern barracks than in the old-style structures that let in fresh air instead of circulating recycled air.
      Some of their conclusions:
            "During influenza epidemics, the risks in modern barracks were extreme---in excess of 100 percent in some cases. The common cold, rubella, measles, Legionaire's disease, tuberculosis, etc., can be similarly transmitted in 'tight' modern hospitals, schools, dorms, prisons, shelters for the homeless, day care centers, offices and other facilities.
            In buildings with closed ventilation systems, airborne- transmitted pathogens are not only recirculated and concentrated, but also efficiently dispersed through indoor living spaces. Had all the recruits been housed in the old barracks, 2,663 fewer would have been treated at or admitted to hospitals for respiratory ailments."