News
The First of Three HBN Webinars Kicks-Off Next Week, Offering Practical Advice On Healthier Materials Selections for Your Next Project
You make all the difference in making healthier and affordable housing more accessible! Get the knowledge you need for healthier materials selections in these three webinar offerings. Choose one or all three webinar topics, where you’ll learn the importance of healthier building materials selection, and get actionable steps for choosing better paint and flooring for your next project. The first webinar, live next week on November 12, is titled Welcome to HomeFree: Why Materials Matter. Keep reading to learn more and to register.
Read MoreWhat’s New at HomeFree? Resources to Help You Select Healthier Insulation
HBN is keeping pace with changes in insulation product offerings with updates to our insulation hazard spectrum. We're also supporting our users by providing on-demand educational materials to match. HBN’s latest course released on our HomeFree Campus is Selecting Healthier Insulation with HomeFree.
Read MoreLooking to Strengthen the Equity Conversation? How About Including Building Materials!
Wondering what makes building materials a public health issue? The word equity plays a big role! Equity and buildings seem worlds apart, but Healthy Building Network is changing that paradigm through research, education, and our HomeFree initiative.
Read MoreQuantifying the Impact of Product Choices
We know intrinsically that hazardous chemicals have the potential to do harm and that they commonly do so throughout a product’s life cycle. For champions of the healthy building cause, that understanding of the precautionary principle is enough. But others still need to be convinced and often want to quantify the impact of a healthy-material program. How can healthy building champions start to talk about and quantify the impacts of material choices?
Read More"Tens of Millions of Pounds of Phthalates Annually Eliminated from Vinyl Flooring"
Phthalates (thay-lates) are chemicals used to make vinyl soft and pliable for uses such as roofing membrane, wall covering and flooring. Healthy Building Network began a campaign to remove these chemicals from building products in our seminal 2002 report, Environmental Impacts of PVC Building materials. In 2005 we reported that researchers had demonstrated a link between a mother’s exposure to phthalates and genital deformities in male offspring. Soon phthalates began to be banned from children’s products, though not building products. In 2014 we published a positive assessment of available Phthalate Free Plasticizers in PVC. The next year, after extensive negotiations with the Mind The Store Campaign, a coalition of environmental health groups including HBN, The Home Depot led the big box industry in banning these chemicals from the vinyl flooring sold at retail. This week these groups announced that independent testing of product on the shelves of The Home Depot, Lowes and Lumber Liquidators has confirmed the successful elimination of these toxic compounds from vinyl flooring sold there. Read More
Read MoreCould Chemical Exposures Increase Your Chance of Catching a Cold?
Followers of our work at Healthy Building Network are well-versed in the broad range of impacts that chemical exposures can have on our health. Many chemicals that are common in building materials have been linked to cancer, asthma, and effects on the endocrine system. Did you also know that more and more studies suggest links between exposure to certain chemicals and our immune systems’ ability to fight infectious diseases? Or that chemicals may contribute to stronger, more antibiotic-resistant bacteria?
Read MoreHBN’s Transformation Targets: A better way to prioritize chemicals of concern.
We often hear that one of the greatest challenges to architects, designers, and building owners is navigating the plethora of certifications, standards, restricted substances lists (RSLs), and competing priorities. In fact, HBN’s Pharos database identified over 300. Heavy reliance on RSLs can lead to regrettable substitution (a different chemical replacement with the similar or worse toxicity or impacts). HBN took up the challenge, to move beyond the limitations of RSLs, and to help focus the entire industry on one (maybe two) chemical compound groups at a time per product type that are ripe for transformation, and to amplify our collective energies to replace these chemicals with fully disclosed, fully assessed safer alternatives.
Read MoreHealthy Building Network Receives 2019 Design for Humanity Award
Healthy Building Network has been honored as the national 2019 Design for Humanity award recipient from the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). In celebrating an institution for having made significant contributions to improving the environment for humanity through projects that transform lives, this award recognizes the far-reaching impact of HBN’s work.
Read MoreHomeFree Campus: Online Classes for Selecting Healthier, Affordable Products
Are you constructing or remodeling a space and want to learn why and how to select healthier products? Healthy Building Network is excited to announce the launch of the HomeFree Campus, an online education resource that provides simple, science-based information that can help you select affordable, healthier materials. Learning with HomeFree will support you and your team.
Read MoreEmissions from Carpet Tiles Sickens Three Minnesota Workers
Symptoms of “sick building” syndrome include “headache; eye, nose, or throat irritation; dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; difficulty in concentrating; fatigue; and sensitivity to odors”. These symptoms can develop after long-term exposures, or they can occur after a single instance of exposure, as in the case reported by the Minnesota Daily last month. Three carpet installers were sent to the emergency room after installing carpeting in an apartment building intended for student housing near the University of Minnesota. The workers could not tell doctors what they were exposed to because the carpeting did not include a complete list of contents. To find out, the workers first measured the air quality with a device ordered off of Amazon, which immediately “jumped to red” when exposed to the carpeting. The Minneapolis Building and Construction Trade Council then sent carpet samples to a lab for emissions testing. This testing found total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) at levels that “significantly exceed” typical levels in the air. The chemicals noted on the report included some on the Minnesota Department of Health list of Chemicals of High Concern.
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