Here is the Allergy and Environmental Health Association-Nova Scotia 
Media Release on the Health Hazards of Natural Gas.

We invite you to join with us in seeking to get full, fair and 
cooperative assessment, through formal Environmental Assessment Process, 
of the INDOOR health hazards of natural gas.

Please distribute this as you can.  And please see our web page and 
encourage others to see it.  Any other sites you can get to add links to 
our site would be much appreciated.

We have the only site on the entire web where you can get the truth about 
the adverse effects of natural gas on indoor air quality.

Please visit us and bookmark our site at:

And add us as a link to your site.

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For Immediate Release                                        April 4, 1997
			<<<<< MEDIA RELEASE >>>>> 

NATURAL GAS LINKED TO ASTHMA, RESPIRATORY ILLNESS, 
ENVIRONMENTALLY INDUCED ILLNESS/CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY.
   
Medical experts have warned that natural gas can cause serious
respiratory illness, worsen allergies and pose serious dangers to those
with environmental and chemical sensitivities.  The findings are
being presented this week by the Allergy and Environmental Health
Association-Nova Scotia in partnership with the Intervention
Coalition on Sable Gas as part of the environmental assessment
review of the proposed Sable Gas Project.

According to the British medical journal, The Lancet (Vol.347,
Feb.17, 1996), exposure to natural gas increases the risk of asthma
attacks, reduced lung function, increased airway obstruction and
shortness of breath.

According to Dr. Gerald Ross, M.D., president of the American
Academy of Environmental Medicine, "natural gas is a pollutant
chemical that can worsen both classical allergy and chemical
sensitivity."  He warns that patients being treated for these problems
"will have only limited success with their treatment programs, if
they are living in a home that has natural gas or if they are in an
area where there is natural gas transportation or leakage."

A study of 47,000 patients conducted by the Environmental Health
Centre in Dallas, Texas, further found that "the most important
sources of indoor air pollution responsible for generating illness
were the gas cook stoves, hot water heaters, and furnaces."

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 20
percent of Canadians are "unusually sensitive" to allergens or
chemicals, of which natural gas a is highly significant source. 
"Combustion gasses and unburned fuel (including the additives) from
fossil fuel appliances can be a major source of contaminants in the
home," according to the Corporation.  "Sufficient evidence has
accumulated on the negative impact on health of using open flame
gas stoves."

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have even worse rates than the rest
of Canada. AEHA-NS sources judge that one-third of Maritimers
have some form of compromised immune system condition and are
thus at high risk for adverse effect from any further stresses such as
gas to their already overworked immune systems.

The evidence is being presented to the Sable Gas Project hearings by
the Allergy and Environmental Health Association of Nova Scotia,
in association with several other health and environmental groups
and the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union.  The groups
argue that the medical evidence indicates clearly that natural gas
should be restricted to generating electrical energy, and should
definitely not be introduced directly into homes, schools, hospitals,
work places or other indoor uses as a source of cooking or heating.

In their submission to the environmental assessment review, the
groups urge that the Sable Island Gas Pipeline Project not be
approved unless the medical and environmental evidence is fully
investigated, and then only for electricity generation.  "The problem
is significant and astonishingly poorly known," the brief argues. 
"Immune systems already impaired by chemical exposures may be
pushed over the brink by the added insult of gas exposure, thus
adding numerous cases of environmental illness, asthma and allergies
to Nova Scotia's and New Brunswick's already overburdened health
care systems."

The Allergy and Environmental Health Association and its coalition
partners accuse industry groups of misrepresenting natural gas as an
environmentally friendly fuel.  In fact, natural gas is an asphyxiant
which contains impurities and additives, which may include radon
and other radioactive materials, BTEX (benzene, toluene,
ethylbenzene and xylene), organometallic compounds such as
methylmercury ogranoarsenic and organolead, mercaptan odorants
and other toxins.

When natural gas is burned, as in cooking and heating, the chemical
creates nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, fine particulates,
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds
including formaldehyde.  The use of natural gas in the home will
thus significantly increase indoor air pollution, says the association.

At http://www.oocities.org/RainForest/6847/  visit the Health
Hazards of Natural Gas Web Site.  Download the research.  Detailed
documentation is available at this site including the complete text of
several reports: Medical-Environmental Report,
Economic Implications Report, Alternatives Report and others.

For further information, please contact the Allergy and
Environmental Health Association - Nova Scotia, 15 Schooner Cove
Road, Head of St. Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia B0J 3J0; phone 902-
477-4022 or 826-7846; fax: 902-826-1369.


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       Allergy and Environmental Health Association - Nova Scotia
            and Intervention Coalition on Sable Gas partners
                                    
                                CALL FOR
                                    
*	The Environmental Assessment to fully, comprehensively and fairly
examine all health issues related to natural gas, especially including
the indoor air pollution effects of the use of natural gas.

*	The Environmental Assessment to commit at this time in particular
to not release any use of Sable Gas for any indoor usage.

*	The Provincial Governments of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to
commit to not allow the use of natural gas for any indoor usages. 
This protection should be guaranteed by law.

*	The Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to engage in a
study managed co-operatively with the Allergy and Environmental
Health Association - Nova Scotia and our Intervention Coalition on
Sable Gas partners, said study to fully evaluate which uses of natural
gas are harmful to the health of those with environmentally induced
illness/chemical sensitivity, asthma, and allergy, and which uses are
not harmful.

*	The Nova Scotia Power/Consumer Gas partnership and any similar
partnerships to commit to not connect any usage of natural gas for
any indoor application.  And for them to participate in cooperative
studies with the Allergy and Environmental Health Association -
Nova Scotia and our Intervention Coalition on Sable Gas partners, to
study and to fully evaluate which uses of natural gas are harmful to
the health of those with environmentally induced illness/chemical
sensitivity, asthma, and allergy and which uses are not harmful.