Bad
air quality and environmental illness and symptoms may be
from chemicals, gases, vocs
by
Thad Godish, Ph.D
Q. I am the only person working
in an approximately 90 sq ft office. The door is always
open, a small vent does bring in air conditioning. The
office is also the home of a fairly large photocopier
in use all day. It is not really "hot"…but
there is the constant smell of burnt air emanating from
the copier. When I work at my desk (which also has a
computer (PC) and a color printer), I have a horrible
time keeping awake and I have found my concentration
lagging and have increasing difficulty with memory during
the day. I have been working there only a few months,
enjoy the job and have otherwise no outside problems
and/or stressors. When I mentioned this to a colleague,
he did admit that prior occupants had noted similar
problems, though they mostly thought that the room was
too hot. I do not believe it is a heat problem as I
can go outside into a very hot and humid environment
and "clear" my head in a few minutes. Is there
something in the photocopying environment that be causing
this? J.- Florida
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A. There
have been several studies that have implicated office
photocopiers and building-related illness symptoms.
Photocopiers produce ozone, which reacts with toner
decomposition products. Toner is about 20-30% carbon
black with the rest binder and other substances. The
binder is usually styrene-butadiene latex.
A variety of decomposition products are produced, most
notably aldehydes. In chamber studies (simulating an
office work environment) conducted in Denmark formaldehyde
levels steadily increased throughout the day as office
equipment such as photocopiers were used.
Formaldehyde is but one of dozens of byproducts produced
by electrostatic photocopiers. Illness symptoms may
be due to formaldehyde exposures, exposure to decomposition
products collectively (excluding formaldehyde) or to
a combination of these. I believe it is the combined
exposure that is responsible. A 90-square foot office
may be OK for an individual occupant. It may even be
OK for a large photocopier by itself (many photocopiers
are put in poorly-ventilated spaces). It is not an appropriate
environment for both a large photocopier and someone
working there full-time.
First Published: early-November, 2002
Updated: September 2003
