Economics and politics in the assessment of causes of building illness: the NAS/NRC Report on Indoor Pollutants.

Abstract

How do some health scientists manage to avoid obvious antecedents of disease that are centered in the workplace? The 1981 National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council (NAC/NRC) report entitled Indoor Pollutants is analyzed as an example of this avoidance. Although the report contributes to the understanding of technical problems of indoor pollution, its orientation and some of its conclusions are difficult to reconcile with known scientific findings. Reports of investigations done in response to complaints of white-collar workers are largely ignored, as are reports showing hazardously high carbon monoxide levels from cooking in the home and accounts of misuse of gas ranges for supplemental home heating on the part of low-income families. The major blame for indoor pollution is placed on human behavior, especially smoking; however, most investigations of building illness find not tobacco smoke but inadequate ventilation to be the major source of illness. The report demonstrates the limited viewpoint that continues to ignore the productive processes that dominate social relationships, including the economic and political forces that determine workers' activities and their work environment. Continuance of such an approach will hinder future investigations as to the true causes of building illness and detract from efforts to assign the proper social responsibilities for effecting the changes necessary to reduce health risks for white-collar workers.