America's Leading Environmental Test Chamber Causes Corporate America to Turn Green

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BlankTuesday January 16, 7:32 am Eastern Time

Press Release

SOURCE: Air Quality Sciences

America's Leading Environmental Test Chamber Causes Corporate America to

Turn Green

ATLANTA, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Quality Sciences, a leading global

authority on indoor air quality and home to the most technologically

advanced environmental chamber labs in the world, is calling for Corporate

America to turn a green cheek when it comes to providing toxic-free air and

safe office environments.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010116/ATTU001 )

AQS specializes in testing products like carpet, paint, office equipment,

furniture, computers, fax machines, (it has tested over 23,000 products to

date) even buildings, and announces the launch of the world's first

voluntary, nationally certified labeling program for environmentally

preferred indoor products, called the GREENGUARD Registry. First quarter,

2001, the Internet- based GREENGUARD Registry (www.greenguard.org ) will

serve as a full-fledged certification system with routine audits of listed

products.

In fact, products featured in the Internet-based GREENGUARD Registry must

adhere to an extensive battery of tests in specialized chambers and meet the

same stringent requirements as set forth by the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, the State of Washington, the Environmental Technology

Verification and Germany's heralded Blue Angel requirements, in order to

become certified by GREENGUARD.

Air Quality Sciences founder/CEO and Chief Scientist Marilyn Black, Ph.D.,

pioneered the development of these specialized chambers which provide

sensitive and highly accurate techniques for analyzing toxic chemicals down

to the trillionth part. Her company also detects allergens and molds, which,

some experts say, potentially threaten the health of one out of every three

workers in America.

Visionary companies and a growing number of product manufacturers realize

the very real dangers associated with indoor pollutants nestled in interior

furnishings and construction materials. Steelcase and Lexmark are just two

companies taking the initiative to manufacture safer office environments.

The following represents a partial list of manufacturers who have taken the

first step to qualify their products on the GREENGUARD Registry:

www.greenguard.org

Allsteel, Inc. Unicor

Canon, Inc. Domco, Inc.

Certain Teed Corporation Dodge-Regupol, Inc.

Steelcase, Inc. The Gunlocke Company

Interface Flooring Systems, Inc. HAG

s Manville Keilhauer

Lexmark International KI

Omnova Solutions, Inc. Unifor

SMED International, Inc. Herman

Global Contract Kimball International

Humanscale Krug Furniture, Inc.

``We are finding that the GREENGUARD Registry Program is marshalling a

proactive response from building managers, architects, interior designers,

builders and developers -- all of whom understand that there's another green

to be had and that is the money saved as a result of ensuring a safer, more

productive facility for their tenants,'' notes Dr. Marilyn Black.

Indoor product and material categories currently evaluated for GREENGUARD

certification include: Adhesives and Sealants; Hard Surface Flooring;

Appliances; General Construction Materials; Insulations; Architectural

Paints/Coatings; Ceiling Systems; Textiles; Office Furniture; Office

Equipment; Wallcoverings; and Consumer Products.

Indeed, human resource executives and CFOs also understand only too well the

value of a healthy workplace. According to J. Fisk and Arthur H.

Rosenfeld of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley,

California, U.S. companies can save up to $58 billion annually by preventing

sick-building illnesses and a whopping $200 billion in 'worker performance

improvements' by simply creating offices with a healthy indoor air quality.

Fisk and Rosenfeld also found that the financial benefits derived from

improving office environments can be up to 17 times greater than the costs

associated with making those improvements.

``According to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) over 20

million American workers are exposed to potentially serious health threats

due to poor indoor air quality in the workplace,'' Dr. Black says. ``This is

what makes the GREENGUARD Registry such a critical standard,'' she adds.

In fact, OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency rank indoor air

quality among the most critical environmental problems in the United States

today.

Dr. Marilyn Black, who has been featured in USA Today, is a superb interview

who will fill your readers with invaluable information. To schedule an

interview with Marilyn, call 770.552.5915. To obtain more information re:

GREENGUARD Registry, contact Brenner at Air Quality Sciences at

770-933-0638 ext. 252. Or visit www.greenguard.org .

SOURCE: Air Quality Sciences