Healthy Buildings International

Healthy Buildings International (HBI) was a group of indoor air quality consultants previously known as ACVA Atlantic. HBI, under its director Gray Robertson, worked closely with the tobacco industry to encourage corporations not to ban smoking, but instead look for other causes of indoor air pollution. To carry out this strategy, HBI used the term "Sick Building Syndrome".

Background
In the mid to late 1980s, information about the dangers of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) became widespread, and started diminishing the social acceptability of smoking worldwide. This led to an increase in legislated and voluntary smoking restrictions, which, in turn, led to fewer and fewer locations where people could smoke. The tobacco industry perceived in the secondhand smoke issue a massive threat to its profitability. Those inside the industry knew, though, that tobacco interests could not act on their own behalf on the issue, because acting in its own self-interest would render it completely lacking in credibility. The remedy was to deflect attention away from secondhand smoke entirely by employing a highly visible, and credible, third party to publicly focus on the broader issue of indoor air pollution in general.

ACVA Atlantic started out as a small firm that inspected and cleaned office Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. The Tobacco Institute and Philip Morris in particular found an effective voice in Gray Robertson, head of ACVA Atlantic (Air Conditioning Ventilation Associates Atlantic), that specialized in indoor building environments.

In return for tobacco industry support, Gray Robertson began a widespread campaign to deflect attention away from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) as a point source of indoor air pollution, by broadening the issue into one of indoor air pollution in general ("ventilation"). Robertson promoted what he called "Sick Building Syndrome," building it into a widely touted national concern featured in the late 1980s in magazines and electronic media. The tobacco industry sent Robertson on national media tours, employed him to give "expert testimony" at public hearings to help defeat clean indoor air legislation, to write articles debunking the notion that cigarette smoke indoors was a serious problem, and to give "informational" presentations on the industry's spin on indoor air issues to policymakers and employees of regulatory agencies. The tobacco industry eventually assumed the financing of Robertson's business, re-naming it Healthy Buildings International (HBI). They set up HBI satellite offices, and began to promote HBI internationally, using it effectively to help combat voluntary and regulatory smoking restrictions in countries around the world.

HBI was founded by John Graham "Gray" Robertson, who, as of 2004, was still listed as President of HBI.

HBI changed owners and severed all ties with the tobacco industry in 1999. HBI currently lists Philip Morris under "Other Notable Clients" on its web site.

Contact
Healthy Buildings International USA Headquarters 9401 Mathy Drive Fairfax, Virginia 22031-5311 tel: (703) 323 4400 fax: (703) 323 4440 email: hbiAThbiamerica.com (Substitute an "@" sign for the word "AT") Web site: http://www.hbiamerica.com

Sourcewatch resources

 * Gray Robertson
 * Peter Binnie (Employee of HBI)
 * Jeff Seckler (Employee of HBI, turned whistleblower)

Additional tobacco industry secondhand smoke schemes and programs:


 * Philip Morris' Project Brass
 * Philip Morris' Whitecoat Project
 * Philip Morris' Ninja Program
 * Philip Morris' Latin Project
 * ETS (Environmental tobacco smoke) Media Strategy
 * Tobacco industry PR strategies: Changing the focus
 * Tobacco industry PR strategies: Broadening the issue

External resources

 * TobaccoScam web site Ventilation Hoax: Hired Guns: Healthy Buildings International, accessed May 1, 2008