UI officials continue to investigate chemistry building illnesses

It's unclear what has caused numerous faculty, staff and students in the University of Iowa Chemistry Building to feel ill, officials said.

Chemistry faculty and students at an open forum Friday said they are careful to follow best safety practices in labs, but they want UI officials to continue looking into the problem.

A task force recently completed a study and testing of the Chemistry Building and will follow up in six months with another report.

“While it may be frustrating for occupants not to have one single smoking gun that will explain everything,” officials want to focus on safety and environmental improvements suggested in the task force's report, Stephanie Leonard, a consultant with WORKSAFE IOWA, said.

Air sampling showed the presence of chemicals, but none in levels that violate safety standards, Leonard said. However, task force members know the presence of chemicals can cause physical reactions in some people, she said. But there was no summary explanation for reported health symptoms in this case, she said.

The task force did identify construction and lab practices, including dry drains, that harm indoor air quality and could have contributed to health symptoms of occupants, the report said.

Participants at the first of two forums Friday said faculty and students are careful with lab practices, but said they would take care to make sure protocols are followed.

“The bottom line is, I don't think anybody yet knows why people get sick, but these things can be improved,” one faculty member who declined to give his name said.

Chemistry Building, built in the 1920s, has been undergoing renovation since 2004. Task force members said improvements can be made universitywide in protocols for occupied buildings undergoing construction.

Lou Messerle, associate professor of chemistry, said officials should look at possible problems stemming from construction, given the age of the building, and not just focus on laboratory chemicals. There could be decades-old contaminants getting stirred up during demolition, he said.

UI leaders appointed the task force in the spring after 11 faculty, staff and students in the Chemistry Building had complained of health problems they believed were linked to conditions in the building. They reported respiratory symptoms, headaches, short-term memory loss, disorientation and difficulty concentrating.