Toxicity in Architectural Plastics

Abstract

The building industry lacks a holistic and integrated method for assessing the possible human health risks attendant to using materials that have been verified as toxic. In particular, it lacks an open-source, interactive interface for measuring the health risks associated with sourcing, manufacturing, selecting, installing, using, maintaining, and disposing of building-based polymers. Because of their high degree of chemical synthesis, polymers are typically more toxic than wood, glass, or concrete; yet architects, engineers, builders, clients, and the general public remain poorly informed about the deadly accumulation of synthetic polymers that originate in the building industry and that pervade our air, water, and bodies. This question should be central to the very definition and practice of life-cycle assessment, and this chapter outlines a process for developing an industry-based life-cycle index of human health in building (LCI-HHB). After all, traditional LCAs are of little help to anyone not healthy enough to enjoy them.