Chemicals in Building Products

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image of person in PPE laying down floor material

Chemicals in Building Products

Legacy Chemicals In Building Products

Legacy Chemicals are substances that were previously used in products but  have been phased out and/or banned, yet have a lasting impact due to their  environmental persistence and being used in recycled products. That means even if something is phased out, it can have negative health and environmental impacts to this day. Shockingly, many of these chemicals were also used in our homes at one point.

Historically, building materials were made with hazardous substances and materials such as lead and asbestos. As science evolved, we began phasing out the use  of some hazardous substances. But the U.S. has not established meaningful policy and programs for remediating homes and commercial buildings, especially for low-income communities.  For example, landlords and property owners are not required by federal law to remediate Lead (Pb) in a home, only to disclose if the building was built before 1978 and to provide prospective renters or buyers with brochures about the hazards of lead paint. 

When an indoor environment has very little ventilation or is very tight (i.e. there is little space for air to get through), a common occurrence in newer buildings, inhabitants are deprived of fresh air which can cause difficulty focusing and decreased productivity, eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches and fatigue in the short-term; in the long-term, poor indoor air quality is associated with heart and respiratory disease and cancer. Ways to increase ventilation include opening a window, turning on exhaust fans to pull dirty air out, and installing HEPA filters and maintaining them properly. 

Another way the indoor environment can be polluted is through the “take-home pathway.” This is commonly an issue with pesticides in agricultural areas, but this take-home exposure pathway can be applied to, for example, construction and manufacturing workers working with building materials. Since the 1970’s, scientists have been investigating the unusually high cases of heavy metal poisonings and respiratory diseases in family members of industrial workers that had been exposed to lead dust or asbestos. They found that workers’ unintentionally exposed their families by bringing their uniform, shoes, and gear home and contaminated their homes, or they wore their contaminated clothes in their personal vehicles. Additionally, another study found that a group of children of parents working in construction had more childhood cancers, further suggesting that low-level take-home exposure to dangerous chemicals  can drastically impact children’s health long-term.  Another study found similar contamination issues with arsenic dust being brought home by Hawaiian workers working in lumber processing. 

There may be engineering controls for specific tasks found in construction and manufacturing sites. A more general and direct approach to reduce  this risk is to have changing areas for workers to remove and wash their work clothes. Oftentimes, however, workers do not have time or resources to do so. Having employers create a policy that allows workers to change while on shift would promote a culture of safety while allowing for workers to protect their colleagues, themselves, and their families from hazardous chemicals. 

Building Clean’s Universe Of Building Products With Hazardous Chemicals

Insulation, sealants, paints and wallcoverings, flooring,  windows, doors and skylights, and lighting are all product sectors in which extra consideration should be taken to avoid or minimize the presence of potentially harmful chemicals.

Why do we focus on these products?

  • Building materials that comprise the interior space and lie within the air barrier have a greater potential to impact the health of occupants than exterior facing building products, or ones outside the air barrier. 
  • They’re used frequently in new construction projects, home repairs, and energy efficiency upgrades
  • They carry a certification or ingredient disclosure related to hazardous content

This chart is an overview of building product types, associated hazardous chemicals, and health risks. The chemical library information is derived from ChemHAT, a tool created by the BlueGreen Alliance and union partners to help workers better understand the chemicals they are exposed to on the job and how to better protect themselves. 

Product TypeHazardous ChemicalsAssociated Health RisksChemical Library
Insulation

Flame retardants

Isocyanates

VOCs

Styrene

Toxic to nervous system and reproductive system, hormone disruption, cancer



 

Asthma

 

Cancer, damage to kidney, liver, and nervous system

 

Cancer, endocrine disruption, gene damage

Boric acid

TCPP

Isocyanates

Formaldehyde

Styrene

Sealants

Phthalates






 

Isocyanates

 

VOCs



 

PFAS

Toxicity to reproductive system and development, hormone disruption, cancer, asthma

asthma

Cancer, birth defects, gene damage

Birth defects, reproductive harm, cancer

DINP

DIDP




 

Isocyanates

 

Benzene


 

Paints and Wallcoverings

VOCs



 

Phthalates




 

Cancer, damage to kidney, liver, and nervous system

Toxicity to reproductive system and development, hormone disruption, cancer, asthma

Formaldehyde



 

DPHP

 

DINP

 

DIDP

Flooring

Phthalates






 

VOCs

 

Isocyanates


 

Toxicity to reproductive system and development, hormone disruption, cancer, asthma

Cancer, damage to kidney, liver, and nervous system

Asthma

DPHP

DINP

DIDP

Formaldehyde

Isocyanates

Windows, Doors, and Skylights

Phthalates






 

VOCs



 

Bisphenol A (in polycarbonate windows)

Toxicity to reproductive system and development, hormone disruption, cancer, asthma

Cancer, damage to kidney, liver, and nervous system

Reproductive harm; birth defects; endocrine disruption

DINP




 

Formaldehyde

 

BPA

CFLsMercuryNeurotoxin, birth defects, reproductive harmMercury

Water Filtration Systems

Water filtration systems are an important part of creating a healthier home. There is a growing list of communities across the U.S. that are discovering they have contaminated drinking water. Although solving this problem properly involves significant investments in the rehabilitation of old infrastructure and housing, residents can limit or eliminate exposure to contaminants in their water supply by using a water filtration system.

Chemicals in our water supply

There are many chemicals that may leach into our water supply and harm us. Bacteria like e-coli and radiological contaminants also can pollute our drinking water. While there are many potential exposures, there are three chemicals that are dangerous to human health—and to children in particular—that frequently show up in our water supply: perchlorate, arsenic, and lead. 

Perchlorate

Perchlorate is a man-made and naturally occurring chemical that disrupts thyroid functions critical to brain development. Perchlorate is a rocket-fuel component and fertilizer contaminant that easily leaches from soil surfaces to groundwater. Once in our groundwater, it can pollute our drinking and irrigation water, contaminating both the food and water we consume.

Arsenic

Arsenic is another hazardous chemical found in our water. It is a naturally occurring element found in soil and enters the air and water supply either by wind-blown dust or run-off. Through those methods of transport, arsenic contaminates food, water, and soil, creating multiple points of exposure. It has been used as a pesticide and is released from mines and industrial sites. The two most common and most toxic forms of arsenic are trivalent (AS+3) and pentavalent (AS+5). 

Some of the significant health effects of exposure to arsenic are IQ loss and cancer, although the common effects are often are observed first in the skin of those exposed. Long-term exposure also may cause bladder cancer, lung cancer, developmental and neurological issues , diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. 

Lead

Federal laws removed lead from interior house paint in 1978, and from gasoline in 1995; yet lead remains a huge health threat. Exposure to lead can come from a variety of sources, such as paint chips from homes built before 1978, toys, dishes, jewelry, occupational exposure, and old pipes that leach lead into the water supply.

Even low blood lead levels can affect the developing brain and central nervous system, leading to slow growth, low IQ, aggressive behavior, and increased attention deficits. Lead can impact everyone but is extremely dangerous for children because they are more susceptible than adults to develop neurotoxicity from their exposure. This is because children absorb up to 50 percent of the lead they ingest compared to the 8 percent adults absorb.