: Bathroom odors, VOCs and cataracts

[Guest guest]

Dear colleagues:Is anyone else aware that para-dichlorobenzene, the quintessential indoor air contaminant (being in everythingfrom moth balls to bathroom deodorizers) has been directly implicated as a cause of cataracts?Sincerely, W. Bearg, PE, CIHLife Energy Associateswww.LifeEnergyAssoc.com20 Darton StreetConcord, MA 01742 Re: Bathroom odors related to carpet? Bathroom has no carpet!!

Consider the possibility that something coming from the carpet has sensitized the homeowner, and as a result of that sensitization the homeowner both perceives a much stronger odor and experiences a stronger reaction to the chlorine which had always been there. It is not uncommon for a sensitized person to need to filter chlorine (in various forms) from the shower.

Consider also the possibility that there is a synergy between something coming from the carpet, and whatever is in the water. 20 seconds is about right for enough water to get atomized by the shower head for the homeowner to start absorbing it through both smelling (nasal passages) and breathing (lung surface) pathways. It doesn't matter whether the carpet-origin "stuff" and water-origin "stuff" are mixing in the bathroom air, or simply in the person's bloodstream.

There have been enough anecdotes through the last few decades about sensitization horror stories involving new carpet that it is clear the basic theory, the basic mental model, used by various professions and by science is incomplete. Somehow I suspect variations in the chemical composition of carpet (+dye, +stain resist, etc) from lot to lot, combined with genetic variations in people, combined with co-exposures, lead to some corner cases where specific individuals/families are seriously chemically injured by specific lots of carpet. To be blunt, we don't know enough to tell carpet manufacturers how to avoid this, nor to tell families that they are at much higher risk given their genetics or exposure/sensitization history. Whether to panic and yank the carpet out is a judgment call.

>

> Friends and colleagues -

>

> Thank you for your many comments, which I have passed on to the home

> owner.

>

> I failed to be clear enough for some of you: THE BATHROOM DOES NOT HAVE

> CARPET. Bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms are all without carpet.

>

> However, we found some studies that link new carpet and drinking water

> treated with chlorine dioxide. See

> http://www.waterrf.org/Research/ResearchTopics/StateOfTheScienceReports/TasteandOdorResearch.pdf

> . It seems possible for the VOCs from the carpet would be spread into

> every room of the house, and react with water where it is used.

>

> In one report, the researcher created a strong nasty odor overnight from

> carpet plus ClO2. By contrast, my homeowner says it emerges from the

> shower in 20 seconds. That reaction time concerns me greatly -- wouldn't

> the researcher have noticed a reaction that fast? Is the carpet

> involved? Well, this problem only started after the carpet was

> installed -- and the carpet is glued on with a regular-VOC product, not

> low-VOC. So 'tis a puzzlement.

>

> Lastly, the homeowner might use some sort of water treatment. A

> different shower head, for instance, a whole house water filter, or if

> the problem comes from water standing in a pipe, to run the water a long

> time to flush the pipes out. He is still considering his options.

>

> Again, thank you for your comments.

>

>

> Henry Slack

> slack.henry@...

>