Tools & Guides

Material Health Research

Want to learn more about the impacts of building materials on health? These resources provide information on the chemicals that are most toxic, common sources where they're found, pathways of exposure, ensuing health hazards, and the populations that are most vulnerable.

Materials & Health

18 tools & guides

Summary-level information on the major issues with toxic chemicals in building materials and how they can affect human health.

Better Building Materials: Understanding Human Health and Environmental Attributes

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

This guide defines the core information that building project teams need to know to make the consideration of human health and environmental issues a systematic part of building materials specification, purchasing, and use. 

Healthy Building Network: Research & Reports

Healthy Building Network (HBN)

The Healthy Building Network was founded in 2000 to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in building products as a means of improving human health and the environment. 

Donghia Healthier Materials Library

Parsons School of Design, Healthy Materials Lab

The Donghia Healthier Materials Library is a resource for students, faculty, practitioners, and researchers from around the world to find material samples, evaluative tools, and in-person support. The Library is located at Parsons School of Design at The New School, and online in the Resource Library.

Healthier Materials & Sustainable Buildings Certificate Program

Healthy Materials Lab, Parsons School of Design

Parsons’ Healthy Materials Lab has developed a new “certificate program” to provide designers the information they need to design more healthful interiors.  Four self-paced online courses provide an introduction to key topics in the field, the final two of which are geared to practitioners in the built environment.

The BuildingGreen Report

BuildingGreen

Formerly Environmental Building News (EBN). The BuildingGreen Report is a monthly publication available through PDF download to BuildingGreen premium members. It provides in-depth reporting, analysis, and real-world guidance on issues in sustainable and healthy buildings.

BuildingGreen Continuing Education Articles

BuildingGreen

Receive continuing education credit for reading BuildingGreen's reports and featured articles.

Healthy Building Network News

Healthy Building Network (HBN)

Since 2002, HBN has published Healthy Building News, providing green building professionals with timely, reliable information and perspective on market and political trends that are defining the green building movement.

Toxic Chemicals in Building Materials: An Overview for Health Care Organizations

Healthy Building Network (HBN)

This paper considers the impact of chemicals emitted from building materials and provides more information about the reasons for avoiding the use of building materials that have an impact on human health.
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Optimizing Recycling: Criteria for Comparing and Improving Recycled Feedstocks in Building Products

Healthy Building Network (HBN)

An HBN collaboration with StopWaste, a public agency responsible for reducing the waste stream in Alameda County, CA, with support from the San Francisco Department of the Environment, that examines the hazards, supply chains, and economic impacts of recycled feedstock streams in building products.

The Story of Stuff

The Story of Stuff Project began in 2007 with a 20-minute video, a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. Since then, they have expanded with a series of short videos exploring environmental and social issues, which are all available on their site.

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The EPA is an agency of the Federal government of the United States which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

As a publicly-funded institute, the NIEHS is committed to conducting the most rigorous research in environmental health sciences, and to communicating the results of this research to the public.

​What is the scientific evidence for health problems associated with the indoor environment?​

Office of the Surgeon General (US)

Report of the Surgeon General's Workshop on Healthy Indoor Environment: January 12–13, 2005, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.

A Story of Health

Western States PEHSU Program

Case-based learning has long been used in medical education. This eBook grounds the science of health in stories of fictional people, their families, and communities to enable readers to explore the risk factors for disease as well as how to prevent disease and promote health and resilience. Using the setting of a family reunion as a backdrop, it explores how multiple environments influence our health across the lifespan.

The Plastics Collection

Syracuse University Libraries

The Plastics Collection includes books, periodicals, manuscripts, and over 2,500 plastic objects produced from the late-19th Century to the present day that represent facets of the development of the plastics industry. The collection includes papers related to individual plastic innovators and to companies, both exceptional and representative of developments in plastics production, design and marketing.

Pollution Categories

Initiative Mehrweg

Explanations of the five environmental impact categories in life cycle analysis.

American Experience: Rachel Carson

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring (1962) began a new public conversation. "It's a conversation about the pros and cons of technology; it's a conversation about the role of nature in our life, and about whether or not we make our lives better through technological innovations or whether we do damage that outweighs the benefits."

10 Simples Steps for a Healthier Lifestyle

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Chemicals of Concern

38 tools & guides

Six Classes: A Webinar Series on Chemicals of Concern

Green Science Policy Institute (GSPI)

A series of webinars about six families or “classes” of chemicals which contain many of the harmful substances found in everyday products. Instead of worrying about tens of thousands of untested chemicals, distinguished scientists describe the "six classes" which contain many of the bad actor chemicals in consumer products.

Red List Chemical Guide

International Living Future Institute (ILFI)

The Red List represents the “worst in class” materials, chemicals, and elements known to pose serious risks to human health and the greater ecosystem. The Living Building Challenge believes these materials should be phased out of production due to health and toxicity concerns

Pharos: Chemical and Material Library

Healthy Building Network (HBN)

An online catalog of chemicals, polymers, metals, and other substances. It identifies key health and environmental information using authoritative scientific lists for specific human and environmental health hazards, restricted substance lists, and GreenScreen List Translator scores.

Precautionary List

Perkins+Will

The Precautionary List, first published in 2009, includes substances commonly found in the built environment that have been classified by regulatory entities as being harmful to the health of humans and/or the environment.

Chemicals of Concern

Harvard Office for Sustainability

This resource, created by the Harvard Office of Sustainability, outlines the efforts of Harvard’s Sustainability Plan to reduce toxic chemicals in the built environment. It includes information on their efforts as well as guides on eliminating various chemicals of concern.

The Toxins That Threaten Our Brains

The Atlantic

Leading scientists recently identified a dozen chemicals as being responsible for widespread behavioral and cognitive problems. But the scope of the chemical dangers in our environment is likely even greater. Why children and the poor are most susceptible to neurotoxic exposure that may be costing the U.S. billions of dollars and immeasurable peace of mind.

List of Undesirable Substances 2009

Danish Ministry of the Environment, Environmental Protection Agency

Toxic Substances Portal

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry

An organ system is a structure that is found inside a human or animal. It is made of cells or tissues that perform a specific function. When exposed to a hazardous substance, the organ that the substance affects at the lowest dose is called the target organ. Development is the process in which an individual or animal matures until puberty. Click on a target organ system below to see an overview of the system and a list of substances that can harm it.

Dangerous Substances (Chemical and Biological)

OSHwiki

The article provides a general overview of occupational exposure to dangerous substances. It provides definitions, an introduction to the relevant EU legislation and basic information on how to identify and manage the health risks associated with dangerous substances in the workplace. The article provides an overview for beginners, and signposts the way to additional information.

Toxic Materials

Health Care Without Harm

Health Care Without Harm's resource on toxic materials includes information on mercury, PVC and phthalates, flame retardants, electronics, cleaners, and pesticides. It links to relevant research, policy, and alternatives.

Green Science Policy Institute

Green Science Policy Institute (GSPI)

The Green Science Policy Institute's mission is to facilitate responsible use of chemicals to protect human and ecological health. They educate and build partnerships among scientists, regulators, businesses, and public interest groups to develop innovative solutions for reducing harmful chemicals in products.

TOXMAP

US National Library of Medicine

TOXMAP helps you explore on-site toxic releases and hazardous waste sites from US EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), EPA's Superfund National Priorities List (NPL), and Environment Canada's National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI).

ChemSec (International Chemical Secretariat)

ChemSec

ChemSec, the International Chemical Secretariat, is a non-profit organization dedicated to working towards a toxic free environment.

Toxnot

toxnot PBC

Toxnot is a free, open platform that lets anyone share information and hazard data on thousands of chemicals.

Environmental Working Group News

Environmental Working Group (EWG)

EWG News keeps you up to date with analysis of the latest news, interviews with experts and more. Do you know what's in your tap water? What about your shampoo? What’s lurking in the cleaners underneath your sink? What pesticides are on your food? How about the farms, fracking wells and factories in your local area? Do you know what safeguards they use to protect your water, soil, air and your kids? Which large agribusinesses get your tax dollars and why? What are GMOs? What do they do to our land and water?

Building Contaminants Photo Database

ES EnviroSustain

This database includes photographs of toxic substances (including asbestos, PCBs, and lead) as they are found in the built environment.

Trade Secrets

Moyers & Company

A two-hour special report on how chemical companies have collaborated to keep from American workers and the American public the full truth about the impact of chemicals on health and safety.

Center for Health, Environment & Justice

Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ)

The Center for Health, Environment, and Justice believes that people have the right to be safe from environmental harm. CHEJ’s Director of Science Stephen Lester and our Science and Technical Department work to research the toxicants you are concerned about in order to distribute accessible scientific information to the public. CHEJ empowers communities to make informed decisions about their own health.

Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI)

The Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at UMass Lowell collaborates with businesses, community organizations and government agencies to reduce the use of toxic chemicals, protect public health and the environment and promote the competitiveness of Massachusetts businesses.

Environmental Health News

Environmental Health Sciences

Environmental Health News is an independent, foundation-funded news organization that reports, publishes and contextualizes news stories on environmental topics.

Toxic economy: Common chemicals cost US billions every year

Environmental Health News

Researchers estimate the United States economy takes a $340 billion hit annually as endocrine-disrupting compounds lower IQs, increase behavior problems and exacerbate health woes like obesity and diabetes.

The Human Experiment

The Human Experiment lifts the veil on the shocking reality that thousands of untested chemicals are in our everyday products, our homes and inside of us. Simultaneously, the prevalence of many diseases continues to rise. This film tells the personal stories of people who believe their lives have been affected by chemicals.

Toxic By Design: Eliminating harmful flame retardant chemicals from our bodies, homes, & communities

Endocrine Disruptors Action Group

This white paper summarizes the state of scientific research on the toxicity of common flame retardants, including proposed alternatives, as well as their efficacy for fire safety.

Toxic Hot Seat

James Redford and Kirby Walker

Toxic Hot Seat tells the story of activists, journalists and citizen groups who are bringing an end to the era of manipulation and misinformation about hidden toxic chemicals. The film shows the struggle to remove toxic flame retardant chemicals from our couches, environment and bodies. These chemicals are linked to lower IQ in children, thyroid disease, infertility, cancer and other rising rates of health problems. They are found in every living being on earth.

The Dirty Dozen List of Endocrine Disruptors: 12 Hormone-Altering Chemicals and How to Avoid Them

Environmental Working Group (EWG)

There is no end to the tricks that endocrine disruptors can play on our bodies: increasing production of certain hormones; decreasing production of others; imitating hormones; turning one hormone into another; interfering with hormone signaling; telling cells to die prematurely; competing with essential nutrients; binding to essential hormones; accumulating in organs that produce hormones. Here are 12 of the worst hormone disruptors, how they do their dirty deeds, and some tips on how to avoid them.

Endocrine Disruptors (EDCs) – ChemSec

ChemSec

ChemSec's page on endocrine disruptors explains the health concerns that endocrine disrupting chemicals present. This resource also includes the ChemSec SIN List which names 32 endocrine disrupting chemicals that should be eliminated from consumer products.

Endocrine Disruptors

Danish Ministry of the Environment, Environmental Protection Agency

Denmark is leading the EU lobby for tighter restrictions on endocrine disruptors.

Healthy Environments: What’s New (and What’s Not) With PVC

Healthy Building Network (HBN), Perkins+Will

The health and environmental concerns associated PVC have been discussed in many publications over the past twenty years. In light of recent claims that PVC formulas have been improved by reducing certain toxic additives, this paper reviews contemporary research and data to determine if hazards are still associated with the lifecycle of PVC.

PolyVinyl Chloride (PVC) Publications

Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ)

Blue Vinyl

Blue Vinyl is a documentary profiling the prevalence of vinyl products in society at the turn of the century, and the profound dangers that polyvinyl chloride (PVC) present to those that work in and live near manufacturing facilities of them.

The Top Ten Things You Need to Know About Antimicrobials

Perkins+Will, Healthy Building Network (HBN)

A new white paper by Perkins+Will and the Healthy Building Network explains why antimicrobial products may be causing people and places more harm than good, with the top ten reasons summarized here.
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Understanding Antimicrobial Ingredients in Building Materials

Perkins+Will, Healthy Building Network (HBN)

The purpose of this paper is to provide useful information to our colleagues and clients to consider in relation to the use of antimicrobials in the building industry. This paper summarizes our present thinking about the current use of antimicrobials in the building industry, and our conclusion that they should be approached with skepticism and caution at this time.
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Antimicrobials in Hospital Furnishings

Health Care Without Harm

This report explores the benefits, risks, tradeoffs, and cost implications of adding antimicrobials to hospital furnishings.
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National Lead Summit Playbook

National Lead Summit

This document provides basic information on aspects of the childhood lead poisoning problem. It also includes suggestions for further deliberation and associated background information compiled from ongoing initiatives.

Bisphenol A in Building Materials: High Performance Paint Coatings

Healthy Building Network (HBN)

While manufacturers claim that the BPA in epoxy resins is consumed entirely in the production process and does not show up in the final products, scientists investigating the metabolic breakdown of epoxy resins during occupational exposure have found that epoxy resin products can be metabolized in the human body back into BPA and may impact the endocrine and reproductive system of those exposed (July 2009).
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Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are found in the sooty part of smoke. They can cause cancer, lung, skin, and kidney damage. This page from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services provides an overview of exposure information, regulatory standards, and health effects.

EU Biocide Policy

European Commission

Biocidal products are used to control unwanted organisms that are harmful to human or animal health or to the environment, or that cause damage to human activities. However, biocidal products can pose risks to humans, animals and the environment. As a result, the EU has set up strict rules and procedures to minimize these risks.

What are POPs?

Stockholm Convention Clearing House

Resources related to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have harmful impacts on human health or on the environment.

Conditions & Diseases

6 tools & guides

Environmental Health Topics

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

This section provides an A to Z alphabetical listing of major health topics that are related to or affected by environmental exposures. The major categories of topics include Conditions & Diseases, Environmental Agents, Environmental Science Basics, Population Research, and National Toxicology Program Information.

Asthma Triggers + Asthmagens

Perkins+Will

This list identifies Asthmagens-substances that induce the chronic condition of asthma-commonly found in the built environment.

A Research Strategy to Discover the Environmental Causes of Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities

Environmental Health Perspectives

In 2012, authors Philip Landrigan, Luca Lambertini, and Linda Birnbaum published this report on neurotoxicants, which lists ten chemicals considered likely to contribute to autism, learning disabilities, and related conditions.
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Obesogens

Increasingly, we’re finding that environmental exposures to chemicals may be an under-recognized third factor in the epidemic (obesity).

Environmental Factors in the Development of Autism Spectrum Disorders

L.A. Sealey et al., Environment International

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Full Disclosure Required: A Strategy to Prevent Asthma Through Building Product Selection

Healthy Building Network (HBN)

Identifies commonly used interior building materials that are likely to contain chemicals that cause the onset of asthma. Examines emerging evidence of how early childhood exposures to these chemicals are of particular concern (December 2013).
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Vulnerable Populations

7 tools & guides

Social Determinants of Health

Nearly everyone is impacted by the social determinants of health in one way or another.  Healthy People 2020 organizes the social determinants of health around five key domains: (1) Economic Stability, (2) Education, (3) Health and Health Care, (4) Neighborhood and Built Environment, and (5) Social and Community Context.

Who’s in Danger? Race, Poverty, and Chemical Disasters

Environmental Justice and Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform

This report presents new research showing that residents of chemical facility "vulnerability zones" are disproportionately African American or Latino, have higher rates of poverty than the U.S. as a whole, and have lower housing values, incomes, and education levels than the national average (May 2014).

The Principles of Environmental Justice

Delegates to the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24-27, 1991, in Washington DC, drafted and adopted these 17 principles of Environmental Justice. Since then, the Principles have served as a defining document for the growing grassroots movement for environmental justice.
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Defining Affordable Housing: From Policy to Reality

Healthy Materials Lab

When we talk about affordable housing the central question becomes affordable for whom?

Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN)

Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN)

The Children's Environmental Health Network (CEHN) is a national multi-disciplinary organization whose mission is to protect the developing child from environmental health hazards and promote a healthier environment.

Healthy Babies Bright Futures

An alliance of scientists, nonprofit organizations and donors working to create and support initiatives that measurably reduce exposures to neurotoxic chemicals in the first thousand days of development.

Pediatric Environment Health Toolkit

The Toolkit is an easy-to-use reference guide for health providers on preventing exposures to toxic chemicals and other substances that affect infant and child health. Our new mobile device ready online version of the PEHT includes links to many related online resources.

Evidence

5 tools & guides

EXPOsure toolBOX (Expo-Box)

US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

EPA’s EXPOsure toolBOX (EPA-Expo-Box) is a toolbox created to assist individuals from within government, industry, academia, and the general public with assessing exposure. It is a compendium of exposure assessment tools that links to guidance documents, databases, models, reference materials, and other related resources.

Environmental Health Brochures and Fact Sheets

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

Looking for information about environmental health research? The Brochures & Fact Sheets page allows browsers to search using several topic areas, such as title, environmental agent, or disease.

BodyBurden: the pollution in people.

Environmental Working Group (EWG)

This is the most comprehensive study ever conducted of multiple chemical contaminates in humans. Blood and urine from nine people were tested for 210 chemicals that occur in consumer products and industrial pollution.
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The Impact of Green Buildings on Cognitive Function

Harvard School of Public Health, Center for Health and the Global Environment

This study was designed to simulate indoor environmental quality conditions in green and conventional buildings and evaluate the impacts on an objective measure of human performance—cognitive function.

Preventing Disease through Healthy Environments

World Health Organization (WHO)

A global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks.
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