October 22, 2002

8:04 AM

Toxic House
"This is a site about the hazards of indoor pollution, largely created by the synthetic and organic chemicals that are a part of our daily lives. It might sound like a place you want to stay away from, but really it’s a place intended to help you make informed decisions about the places and spaces in which you live."
posted by theRegent (13 comments total)

let's all sing the propaganda song!
posted by delmoi at 8:23 AM on October 22, 2002

I like the chime interlude between blueprints. Spooky, yet, informative.
posted by stbalbach at 8:25 AM on October 22, 2002

Allow me to paraphrase:

"Everything is toxic! We are all going to die! Aaaaahhhh!"

In all seriousness, while the issues they mention run the gamut from grave (2nd-hand smoking) to semi-absurd (chloroform emissions from long hot showers), it is simply impossible to live in a modern urban or semiurban environment without being exposed to hundreds, if not thousands of harmful chemicals every day. Even if you manage to somehow completely detoxify your household, you are going to get your fair share of biohazard-of-the-day from the atmosphere, traffic, workplace, whatever. So for those of us who can't live in prisitine wilderness in solid untreated oak houses, eating all organic food , bathing in clear waters of an unspoiled river or lake (that'd make about 6 billion of us) it seems the right thing to do is not go overboard, but rather eliminate the big health concerns and then just cross the fingers and hope that our immune systems can take care of the rest...
posted by blindcarboncopy at 8:33 AM on October 22, 2002

flash. is. for. vector. graphics.

Arghhhhhhhhhh!

Does anyone else get pissed off with the misuse of flash because it looks pretty?

(and before anyone says it, I'll accept that this isn't a bad case, it's just at the end of a flash-fighting day...)
posted by twine42 at 8:35 AM on October 22, 2002

The article explained why things were bad for you--except for choloroform. It mentioned that it was the by-product of chlorine and organic compund in water, but it never said WHY you shouldn't breathe it.
As far as I know, the only reason is to avoid waking up with a headache beside that famous lecherous roommate in college.
posted by Fabulon7 at 8:39 AM on October 22, 2002

I'd be willing bet the person responsible for this site lives in a porcelain igloo at a commune in New Mexico.
posted by GriffX at 8:46 AM on October 22, 2002

Not to be nit-picky, they tell of a new computer being toxic in the bedroom yet the plant, nothing mentioned.
posted by thomcatspike at 9:07 AM on October 22, 2002

It's pretty funny! ...unless you are actually allergic to man-made toxic substances, and your windpipe shrinks to the size of a coctail straw when you get a whiff of automobile emissions or cigarette smoke.

You can call this MCS or Multiple Chemical Sensitivities if you like, or just refer to it as "allergies."

Guess what, Oh-So-Coolcats? It's really no damn fun. But, on the other hand, it provides an intimate awareness of just how much of human society is ridiculously offensive, if not downright poisonous. I wouldn't have it any other way...
posted by Shane at 10:59 AM on October 22, 2002

No, I don't live in a porcelain room. I'm not nearly Julianne Moore's character, either...
posted by Shane at 11:02 AM on October 22, 2002

Thanks, Regent! Happy First Post!
posted by Shane at 11:05 AM on October 22, 2002

allergies are not the same thing as multiple chemical sensitivities. Allergies are caused by the immune system targeting certan chemicals overactively. MCS is caused by being insane.
posted by delmoi at 6:03 PM on October 22, 2002

MCS is caused by being insane.

Ha-ha! Good one. Okay--you can crawl back under the bridge now.
posted by Shane at 6:29 PM on October 22, 2002

Hmm... I guess the CBC never got the news that the indoor pollution/sick building syndrome hysteria was engineered by covert tobacco industry scientists through front companies in hopes of deflecting attention from second-hand smoke in the workplace.

(Many more links, including actual Philip Morris documents released during the big lawsuits available with a quick google search on "tobacco industry" and "indoor pollution" and/or "sick building syndrome.")
posted by ptermit at 4:32 AM on October 23, 2002