Symptoms caused by sick buildings
The problem of poor indoor air quality is of course not limited to government buildings.
In 2005, the Consumers’ Foundation tested the air quality of 25 Taipei hospitals, finding that waiting rooms and dispensaries in 11 of them had CO2 concentrations of over 1,000 ppm, far above the 600 ppm limit recommended by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) for sensitive places such as hospitals. That year, the Legislative Yuan’s Zhongxing Building was tested by NCKU professor of environmental and occupational health Su Huey-jen, who found that the formaldehyde concentration was 0.4 ppm, which translates to a lifelong carcinogenic risk rate of 9:10,000, 912 times higher than the standard acceptable risk value.
In 2008, the ABRI surveyed the air quality of 16 daycare centers around Taiwan, and found that 60% of them showed high CO2 concentrations, and 80% had unacceptable formaldehyde and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) concentrations. And the average concentration of dust mite allergens came to 9.27 micrograms per gram, far higher than the EPA’s recommended 2 μg/g safety standard. Clearly, many daycare centers suffer from poor indoor ventilation and high humidity. No wonder childhood allergy problems have become increasingly serious in recent years!
Such problems are not confined to enclosed public spaces; they also occur in public transportation systems with high passenger throughput. In 2007, the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health conducted tests on five major Taipei MRT stations, and of these, Taipei Main Station and Zhongxiao–Fuxing Station had the worst air, with fungi concentrations exceeding the EPA’s recommended colony count of 1,000 per cubic meter throughout the day, and skyrocketing to a shocking 10,512 during morning and evening rush hours!
Since indoor air quality is usually related to the layout of the ventilation system and the building itself, in academic circles buildings with poor indoor air quality are called “sick buildings.”
Hsieh I-chun, an attending physician of environmental and occupational medicine at Taiwan Adventist Hospital who holds a Class 2 sick building diagnostician’s certificate, notes that there are three general ways in which buildings affect human health. The first is Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), in which various nonspecific symptoms such as headaches, coughing and nausea are presented. According to a 1982 definition by the World Health Organization, SBS is a series of physical symptoms induced by poor building air quality. In this category, sufferers usually experience an alleviation of symptoms upon leaving the problem building.
More worrisome are the second and third categories, Building-Related Illness (BRI) and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome (MCSS). BRI refers to certain pollutants in the building air that can directly cause illness or death, such as dust mites and molds, which can cause allergies, and carbon monoxide poisoning, which can be fatal. The PM2.5 suspended particulates (with diameters up to 2.5 microns) from oil fumes in the kitchen are a major culprit behind lung cancer.
As for MCSS, this refers to long-term indoor exposure to certain low-dose chemical substances, such as perfumes, air fresheners or cleaning fluids. This can affect the immune system, resulting in reactions such as headaches, fatigue, irritability, and lack of concentration.
“The symptoms of MCSS and SBS are similar, the difference being that the former can lead to deeper poisoning. The symptoms won’t dissipate even after people leave the problem building. And the cause of the illness usually can’t be found even after batteries of tests,” explains Hsieh I-chun.
As crowds descend on the anniversary sale of a department store, carbon dioxide concentrations often soar, leading to insufficient oxygen levels.