AIA Article about Antimicrobials

Melanie, thanks for bringing this to our attention. I am quite struck by the article and the product promoted therein. Over 10 years ago I wrote this EBN article where I looked in detail into antimicrobials: https://www.buildinggreen.com/feature/antimicrobial-chemicals-buildings-hygiene-or-harm A key takeaway for me from that research was that for a product manufacturer to make a claim about how their product would offer benefits such as killing viruses and bacteria in the built environment, they would have to register that product with the EPA as a pesticide.  At the time, hardly anyone was willing to take that step. What manufacturers like Interface were doing was toeing the line by not-so-subtly implying that antimicrobials in their products would reduce odors, etc., in buildings. In fact, a manufacturer with a product that has a pesticide as an ingredient but isn't itself EPA-registered can only claim that the pesticide protects the product itself from mold, etc. Think of paint in a can being protected from mold before being applied, or carpet tile on a cold slab being protected from mold degradation. The fact that Sherwin-Williams is willing to take the step to register their paint as a pesticide is remarkable. I can't help but look at that photo of the hospital room and see the walls painted with a pesticide, and the patients completely surrounded by that. Think of the flags that maintenance staff put in lawns when they've been treated with pesticides, warning us to keep off them. Should there be something like that here? I'd love to review the evidence that they used to demonstrate efficacy. What are the ideal conditions, and how quickly do things stray from that? The other point that I gathered from experts and made in that article was that antimicrobials are no substitute for proper maintenance and cleaning. The design has the opportunity to support healthcare design that is easy to clean, easy to maintain, and that is an attractive and life-supporting environment for everyone from the patients to the medical personnel to the cleaning personnel, who have our lives in their hands as much as anyone.

Tristan, I remember our conversation well, as you were working on that article 10 years ago. Your work then still resonates well today. Also, Kaiser Permanente has been closely monitoring the antimicrobials being used in products for the built environment. And they have been adding antimicrobials to their ban list over time. One can find the latest information on their policy and ban here, if interested: https://share.kaiserpermanente.org/article/kaiser-permanente-rejects-antimicrobials-for-infection-control/  We need antibiotics and antimicrobials to work when we need them, and not to see them added to building products unnecessarily. We need to specify the right products, with the appropriate details and material adjacencies to allow for an ease in maintenance. And it can be important to have the maintenance staff at the appropriate design meetings to make sure our designs can/will be maintained.

Melanie, I am so glad you posted this. I also saw the email link and read the "AIA" Sherwin Williams story in the morning, before you sent your post. I thought I was going nuts, that somehow I was wrong about what I had learned about these chemicals -- since the AIA was now endorsing this. Thank you for speaking up. Yes, I will add my voice at the AIA for being so irresponsible. If they need the advertising and sponsorship money so much they should at least make it clear with big text that this is an "advertisement" and not endorsed by the AIA. Just like a newspaper does with full-page ads. Thanks Melanie.

Melanie, Melanie, Jean, Harry, May I forward your comments to Heather Henrikson at Harvard. She’s working to bridge between the science and practitioners on chemicals of concern. I could just forward the article. It’s stronger with your words. I wanted to respect the privacy of this space before sending on. -Meredith Sent from my iPhone

And Tristan too :-) Sent from my iPhone

That works for me.  Harry

I am fine with forwarding this to Heather. Thx! Jean Hansen, FIIDA, LEED Fellow 415.378.1525 Sent from my iPhone

This is not the first time that an advertisement that contradicts what we know to be good for designing for health has been in an AIA newsletter or publication. I will bring this up with the DHLG. Kate Katherine Bubriski, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Fitwel Ambassador Director of Sustainability and Building Performance Arrowstreet 617-666-7006 On Oct 21, 2018 7:16 AM, Meredith Elbaum wrote:

As a related issue to Antimicrobials, my firm has a design project in Chicago and the City of Chicago Plumbing Code requires that toilet seat materials at all public water closets are required to be Antimicrobial. Section 18-29-420.3. Has anybody who has built a project in Chicago dealt with this and tried to do otherwise? Our Chicago-based plumbing engineer believes our only route is through a Variance to change the outcome. Harry

Hi all, I passed this concern on to Melissa Wackerle at AIA, who is one of the key staff members for sustainability, and she responded very quickly (less than a half hour) with the message below. Would someone like to write a responding article? Read on...  Margaret,   I wanted to circle back and let you know that the following disclaimer has been added to the end of the article. I think the by-line is the in-article indicator for partner content.   AIA does not sponsor or endorse any enterprise, whether public or private, operated for profit. Further, no AIA officer, director, committee member, or employee, or any of its component organizations in his or her official capacity, is permitted to approve, sponsor, endorse, or do anything that may be deemed or construed to be an approval, sponsorship, or endorsement of any material of construction or any method or manner of handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product.   I spoke with Matt Welker about the content from the Design & Health Leadership Group’s perspective. He says they don’t have a strong stance on anti-microbial materials, although they have discussed the human impacts health of triclosan. If someone in the group (perhaps Melanie) is interested in writing an article on anti-microbial material properties and their effects, I would be happy to submit it in response to the S-W article. Do you think someone would be interested?   Melissa Wackerle, LEED AP BD+C, ND   The American Institute of Architects T (202) 626-7342  

Hey folks, Kate Bubriski and I are both part of the DHLG, and I’m surprised to hear that we do not have a strong stance on anti-microbial materials. Perhaps it’s just never been an official agenda topic of that particular group, but I would wager if it is, there would be a pretty strong stance across the board. Happy to make this part of our agenda to get a more official statement out of the DHLG. Kristen Dotson Sustainability Services Director The Miller Hull Partnership, LLP O: 206-254-2063 M: 773-531-7433 Fro

Hi all - just chiming in on this conversation real quick.. Antimicrobials are one of the six classes of hazardous chemicals identified by Arlene Blume at the the Green Science Policy Institute. She has spoken and written extensively on this topic. IKEA, Crate & Barrel, Kaiser Permanente, etc have adopted pre-cautionary measures in these six classes. http://greensciencepolicy.org/topics/six-classes/ Sent from my iPhone

Harry, I do not have the experience of working with the City of Chicago, but do have the experience of working with the US Army. The US Army has a requirement for materials/finishes/products to have added antimicrobials as a part of their make-up (or did have one a number of years ago). We were able to educate our clients as to why that was not a good solution, and they waived it for our project (6 buildings) for a single campus. So worth trying to educate your client and to get this changed! It can happen!

I wanted to weigh in on this topic.  I replied separately directly to Payette when they reached out on Friday and recommended that a formal complaint to AIA would fall on deaf ears, so kudos to Melissa for offering space for a reply.  The article does have the disclaimer on it now, I think we should take them up on that offer to write a response.  But I would head directly to Heather Hendriksen (Harvard), Bill Walsh (HBN), Mary Dickinson (P+W), Suzanne Drake (P+W) or Robin Guenther (P+W).  Most of them contributed to the P+W white paper "Healthy Environments: Understanding Antimicrobial Ingredients in Building Materials" that can be found here:  https://perkinswill.com/sites/default/files/Antimicrobial_WhitePaper_PerkinsWill.pdf which i wanted to share as it has great info on this topic.  This can all be found on the http://www.sixclasses.org/ site that Avideh just shared.  Antimicrobials are confusing, we should depend on experts for a response. But I would also want to add that I didn't find this article terribly surprising - this is Sherwin Williams.  They have minimal disclosure documentation and do not share ingredient info.  So if you are interested in making change I would recommend deleting Sherwin Williams as an option in your paint spec.  Ben Moore should be your basis of design, with PPG and Imperial as other options - Kelly Moore on the west coast is good too.  This won't always work as SW is typically the cheapest, but it is worth pushing back, at least trying.  If we can convince even 10% of our clients to stop using Sherwin Williams paint that is both a win and a far more effective retort to this article, and to their business model. Even the best article written in response will pale in comparison to a drop in revenue.  They start losing money they will likely change to meet the market.  Maybe the response letter could add a paragraph about paint suppliers with solid disclosure documentation? I am attaching the pdf copy of that article, as well as the Healthy Hospitals Initiative quicksheet below for additional info - that is the best info I have on these topics. And seriously, is nobody going to bring up the Greenbuild email from last week - Building with Chemistry: Discover the Science Behind Sustainable Building Materials?  That maps out all of the ACC endorsed sessions at Greenbuild, including the one that (spoiler alert) Sherwin Williams is participating in. Super helpful in an upsidedown sort of a way.  But the email said from "Greenbuild on behalf of American Chemistry Council". I was totally stunned but have heard zero push back.

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Quick replies for no good reason: Janine Benyus once told Kira Gould and me that antimicrobials were just turning microbes into "jacked-up motorcycle gangs." I always picture Hell's Angels when this topic comes up. I just skimmed the P+W/HBN white paper, and it's terrific. Such a great model for this kind of research. Well done, everyone. Also, I like that we're all getting people's out-of-office autoreplies. They're actually better content than my composed responses........

Hello all - I've got this issue on the agenda for our next AIA Design & Health Leadership Group call next week. However, the original article link is no longer working. I think that it's the same article as this one published back in August, though? Can somebody confirm? I didn't get a chance to read the original AIA article before the link broke. Here's the one still on AIA's website: https://www.aia.org/articles/209811-how-advancements-in-paint-technology-can-be