Comment Log Display

Heriberta Sandoval,
11703 Pioneer Blvd #20
Norwalk, CA 90650

September 24, 2009

Mary Nichols
Chairman
California Air Resources Board
1001 “I” Street
P.O. Box 2815 
Sacramento, CA 95812

Dear Chairman Nichols:

I want to thank your agency’s staff for your efforts to reduce
emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and protecting the
health of workers like me. 

I am addressing you as a janitor who has been cleaning
supermarkets for more than 15 years, as well as a concerned parent
and consumer.  I want to encourage your staff to continue working
hard to reduce more toxic chemicals from products like
multi-purpose solvents and paint thinners.

I am very committed to my job and I work hard to keep these
supermarkets clean and open every day. However, on a daily basis I
have to use harsh chemicals to clean the store.  These chemicals
and cleaning products cause a lot of damage – sometimes corroding
my shoes and clothes. My co-workers and I constantly get headaches,
nose bleeds, eye irritations and burns to our hands.  Some janitors
have developed serious asthma and other breathing problems. 

I strongly encourage you to support your staff by setting the VOC
limit to 3% and ask you to move the implementation date for
multi-purpose solvents to 2012. Many products in the market already
emit only 3% of VOCs. We believe that by moving the date for
multi-purpose solvents, CARB will reduce the health impacts
associated with the misuse of these products at our work places.

Finally, I would like to remind you that janitors like me, are
waiting for a strong regulation of janitorial products and hope you
will remind your staff they need to include them in the 2010
Consumer Products regulation.  The regulation of janitorial
products is a very important protection in our work.

Again, thank you for your commitment. 

Sincerely,

Heriberta Sandoval,