Healthy Home Corner: Are We Unwitting Guinea Pigs?

Published by Paula Baker-Laporte under Green Living

Healthy Home Experience Just as the post-WWII petrochemical industry has revolutionized food production and transformed the Standard American Diet, it has also dramatically changed the palette of materials and production methods of the Standard American Home.

In fact, the way we build homes in this era has very little in common with how our civilization historically has created shelter. In the brief time span of about half a century, when we have metamorphosed from an agrarian society to one of nutritionally challenged urbanites and suburbanites, we have also parted ways with the communities of craftsmen who knew how to build and maintain homes from local resources, suited to the local environment.

Just as we have been seduced and misguided by the clever marketing of the prepared food industry, we as a culture exhibit the misplaced nostalgia for the feeling of home that has led to a profusion of “old-fashioned-looking, mass-produced, house-icing.” In New Mexico, a production home may look superficially like a real adobe home but it no better satisfies our longing for the real thing than a freezer-to-microwave apple pie is a satisfying substitute for mom’s home cooking and the nurturing family gathering of our fondest memories or imaginings.

Understand, there are many of us who have made the journey to more meaningful food. The popularity of farmers markets and the authentic food movement is a testimonial to a realized need that the food “industry” fails to gratify; but what does the journey to an authentic meaningful home look like?

I would offer that an authentic home nurtures the health and well-being of its occupants while husbanding the environment. This special home would use benign, nontoxic construction materials that are locally and sustainably harvested. The home would be built by a community of proud craftsmen who mean it to last for centuries. It would require little energy to live in comfortably and would reinforce the occupants’ health and connection to nature.

Living Healthy

Unfortunately, homes do not have labels that list their ingredients. If they did, what the list revealed would be far more disturbing than the fine print on a box of frozen junk-food dessert — because it would expose the use of carcinogens and neurotoxins that are endemic to standard construction practices.

What goes into our homes in the way of chemical additives is virtually unregulated. The EPA lists more than 88,000 chemicals in common use today and, to quote the Environmental Working Group, “As amazing as it may seem, there are no mandatory pre-market health testing or approval requirements under any federal law for chemicals in cosmetics, toys, clothing, carpets or construction materials — to name just a few obvious sources of chemical exposure in everyday life.” (http://www.chemicalindustryarchives.org/factfiction/facts/1.asp)

How has this affected us?

The percentage of the allergy-prone has gone from 1 in 30 people in 1950 to 1 in 2.5 today; much of this increase has been attributed to poor indoor air quality.
Asthma cases have doubled since 1970, most among young children.
Prevalence studies have indicated that as much as 18% of the population knowingly suffers from chemical sensitivities.

Eliminating the toxins in building materials should become a minimal mandated standard. This would decrease suffering from building-related illness. However, absence of poisons alone will not satisfy our longing for an authentic home. It would be comparable to the pre-packaged frozen pie that one can now buy at the health food store. The list of ingredients would be shorter, many of the chemicals would have been removed, but the trail from farm- to-table is still long and we who purchase and consume it remain perpetuators of an environmental problem.

Paula Baker-Laporte FAIA (paula@econest.com) is an architect and a certified building biology practitioner. She is the principal of Baker-Laporte and Associates and EcoNest Design. She is primary author of “Prescriptions for a Healthy House” and co-author with husband Robert Laporte of “Econest-Creating Sustainable Sanctuaries of Clay, Straw and Timber.”

(Reprinted courtesy of Santa Fe Real Estate Guide.)

3 Responses to “Healthy Home Corner: Are We Unwitting Guinea Pigs?”

Doug Kennedy says:

February 23, 2009 at 8:11 pm

Your blog brings up a number of interesting points that greatly impact all of us. We hope you continue to get the word out and help educate the industry as to the opportunity we have before us at this unique moment in time.

Having been in the remodeling field for a considerable period of time we have seen many of the affects you discribed, either before, during or after a remodel or new constructiion was completed. We built our company around addressing these issues and find it very rewarding when a client tells us that many of their respitory symptoms, allergies and MCS issues have been reduced. It costs very little extra to incorporate good Building Science/Healthy Home practices into a project and many of these costs can be recaptured through lower operating and ultimately lower health care costs.

We are also very involved in community education regarding this subject and over the past two years we have seen a definate shift in the Puget Sound Region as to the questions home owners are asking in relation to IAQ and EAQ. Where as before they might ask about materials and energy efficiency they now want to know what the impact of combining the various components is going to be. We recently presented a Healthy Home 101 remmodeling workshop and anticipated that many of the questions would be related to the general series overview. It was very encouraging when the attendees started asking well researched questions, wanting to hear solid answers and not just fluff. With so many good unbiased websites out there, there is really no reason for today’s building industry not to take responsibility and do the research that is neccessary to provide an answer and product that meets the clients needs. Given the current state of the building industry it is the perfect time for all of us to invest in this education and to bring ourselves up to speed, By doing so, the legacy we leave our children will be one of better health and the promise of a brighter future. (but then that is just one builders opinion.)

Reply
Doug Kennedy says:

February 23, 2009 at 8:18 pm

Your blog brings up a number of interesting points that greatly impact all of us. We hope you continue to get the word out and help educate the industry as to the opportunity we have before us at this unique moment in time.

Having been in the remodeling field for a considerable period of time we have seen many of the affects you described, either before, during or after a remodel or new construction was completed. We built our company around addressing these issues and find it very rewarding when a client tells us that many of their respiratory symptoms, allergies and MCS issues have been reduced. It costs very little extra to incorporate good Building Science/Healthy Home practices into a project and many of these costs can be recaptured through lower operating and ultimately lower health care costs.

We are also very involved in community education regarding this subject and over the past two years we have seen a definite shift in the Puget Sound Region as to the questions home owners are asking in relation to IAQ and EAQ. Where as before they might ask about materials and energy efficiency they now want to know what the impact of combining the various components is going to be. We recently presented a Healthy Home 101 remodeling workshop and anticipated that many of the questions would be related to the general series overview. It was very encouraging when the attendees started asking well researched questions, wanting to hear solid answers and not just fluff. With so many good unbiased websites out there, there is really no reason for today’s building industry not to take responsibility and do the research that is necessary to provide an answer and product that meets the clients needs. Given the current state of the building industry it is the perfect time for all of us to invest in this education and to bring ourselves up to speed, By doing so, the legacy we leave our children will be one of better health and the promise of a brighter future. (but then that is just one builders opinion.)

Reply
Architect writes about building healthy homes | The Canary Report says:

April 8, 2009 at 6:10 pm

[...] Paula Baker-LaPorte writes about healthy homes in Green By Design. Baker-Laporte was a practicing architect in 1992 when she was was plagued by a [...]

Reply