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From:  "Margaret Harrison" <peggyh@i...>
"Margaret Harrison" <peggyh@i...>
Date:  Thu Jan 4, 2001  12:24 am
Subject:  SF Gate: Voices Fading in the Fog/Performers say chemicals in synthetic mists on stage are health risk



I thought y'all'd be interested in this article on stage fog and opera
singers. Peggy
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This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/01/02/MN1\
45774.DTL
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January 2, 2001 (SF Chronicle)
Voices Fading in the Fog/Performers say chemicals in synthetic mists on stage
are health risk
Sabin Russell



It is instant stagecraft, in a can.
For more than two decades, modern theatrical fog machines have bathed
actors, singers and dancers in ephemeral mists that catch the light and
capture the imagination.
But the same special effects that dazzle and delight audiences -- and
garnered an Oscar for technical achievement in 1984 -- may be damaging the
health of those who must act and sing and dance engulfed in an unnatural
cloud.
What most audience members don't know is that these magical smoke effects
typically are not made of dry ice or droplets of water. The most widely
used theatrical foggers spray a warm chemical mist containing either
mineral oil or a mixture of glycol alcohols like those in antifreeze.
Chemical manufacturers have disavowed the use of glycols in fog machines
for stage effects, citing the potential for throat irritation and
respiratory problems. Industrial customers are cautioned to avoid inhaling
vapor or mist, or to use a respirator if they do so.
No such warnings are issued for synthetic fog in theatrical productions:
Fog machines, of course, are designed to create a mist. Although singers
and actors may be affected the most, audiences and patrons of nightclubs
where fog machines are widely used may also be exposed and could be
vulnerable if they have respiratory illnesses.
"The stuff is nasty," said Harry Herman, of Consultech Engineering, a firm
based in Washington, D.C., that produced a critique of theatrical fog for
Actors' Equity Association in 1995. Herman concluded that glycol fogs
irritated and dried out the throat and "should not be used in theatrical
productions."
Nowhere is the issue more sensi1tive than among opera singers, whose very
livelihoods depend on the proper care of their deep lung capacity and
finely tuned voice pipes.
"I have adored my job. It's the best job anyone could want," said Pamela
Dale, who for 15 years has been a chorister at the San Francisco Opera.
"But I feel like it is all over because of this fog. I can't breathe
properly any more."
Dale had been exposed to theatrical fog for years without any ill effect
until a dress rehearsal for the opera Norma in November 1998. Breathing a
combination of glycol fogs and fumes from propane torches, she became
physically ill.
Since then, Dale contends, her throat and lungs have become
hypersensitized to exposure to glycol or mineral oil fogs. Her doctor
eventually diagnosed her condition as reactive airway disease.
The opera now excuses her from any performances where theatrical fog is
used -- at least half the schedule. But Dale fears that her condition has
permanently limited her lung capacity and has affected her ability to hit
the high, bright notes that are crucial for an opera soprano.
"We depend upon our lungs to do our work," she said. "This stuff will make
you cough. How can you sing opera if you cough?"
Yet fog-machine manufacturers staunchly defend their products, which are
found not only on stage but in Halloween funhouses, dance clubs and at
rock concerts.
"Millions of people have been exposed to this, over 20 years, without
incident. I think that speaks for itself," said Eric Tishman, fog product
manager for Rosco Laboratories Inc., of Stamford, Conn., the world's
largest maker of glycol fog machines.
Hollywood also seems to share the assumption that theatrical fog is
benign. In 1984, Rosco Laboratories and German inventor Gunther Schaidt
won an Academy Award for "developing a nontoxic fluid that creates
simulated fog and smoke."
The case against theatrical fog, Tishman said, is based on "bad science."
Still, from Broadway to San Francisco, stage fog has spawned lawsuits,
workers' compensation claims and bitterness among unionized stage
professionals. And even fog defenders recognize that a percentage of
performers who already have asthma may be more sensitive to the irritants
in some theatrical fogs.
Dale is one of three opera chorus members who have pending workers'
compensation claims against the Opera Association for injuries allegedly
caused by theatrical fog. Four other cases involving throat irritation
have been filed, and settled, since 1990.
Acting on a complaint last year, the California Department of Health
Services conducted a survey of opera employees and reported unusually high
levels of respiratory problems. Among the findings:
-- 12 employees (17 percent of those surveyed) lost a day or more of work
from allergic symptoms.
-- 15 employees (24 percent) reported that symptoms were triggered by
theatrical smoke or fog.
-- 27 employees (39 percent) said "work-related exposures were the cause
of their health problems."
"I'm not an opera expert, but it doesn't add up as a reasonable artistic
endeavor to potentially disable the people who are doing the art," said
Dr. James Cone, chief of the state health department's Occupational Health
Branch and author of the study.
He recommended that the opera stop using glycol fogs and find a less
irritating substitute for mineral oil mists.
Based on Cone's survey, the California Occupational Safety and Health
Administration cited the San Francisco Opera Association for a "serious"
violation of workplace safety and proposed a $2,340 fine. The citation
concludes that opera employees suffered "adverse physical symptoms as a
result of theatrical smoke and fog" including "coughing, sore throat,
chest tightness and shortness of breath."
Opera technical director Patrick Markle said Cone's survey was flawed;
nevertheless, the use of glycol foggers has been suspended this year,
pending results of further testing. Mineral hazers -- which use less than
a spoonful of oil in a performance -- are still in use, and opera
officials are convinced they are safe. "We use it very judiciously,"
Markle said.
In a subsequent appeal of the citation, it was downgraded to a "general
violation," and the proposed fine was reduced to $750. The Opera agreed to
take numerous steps to reduce exposure to chemical fogs and to permit
employees to skip performances that use it, without financial penalty.
The agency conceded that there was "insufficient evidence to prove serious
physical harm." To meet that "serious" standard, the injuries to employees
would need to have been severe enough to require an overnight hospital
stay, according to Cora Gherga, district manager of the Cal-OSHA office.
Dale has since been peppering regulatory agencies with complaints about
safety conditions at the Opera and contends that administrators still are
not meeting their responsibilities. In the past year, Cal-OSHA has
assessed nine separate penalties against the San Francisco Opera
Association. Violations include failure to train employees in the safe use
of fogs; failure to install guard rails in rehearsal spaces; failure to
provide records of fog use and a full listing of occupational injuries and
illnesses; and failure to correct training deficiencies after earlier
warnings.
Russ Walton, director of human resources at the Opera, insisted that the
organization took the fog issue extremely seriously and that staffers who
had health problems with fog should not be afraid to say so. "Our singers
are our lifeblood," he said. "Anything that actually, or possibly, is of
concern to them is of concern to us."
Like many theater producers, Opera administrators remain skeptical that
stage fog poses a health threat to any but a few highly sensitized
individuals.
Several studies, they point out, have concluded that stage fog is not a
significant health risk.
In 1994, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
published a study of 224 actors in Broadway productions that ruled out
theatrical fog as a cause of asthma. Dryness and throat irritation in
"some individuals" was the limit of the problem, the study concluded.
A major new study of theatrical fog conducted by New York's Mount Sinai
Medical Center -- commissioned by Actors' Equity and theater producers --
is widely expected to conclude that it can be used safely. It is also
expected to propose exposure standards for glycol fogs sought by the fog
machine makers.
Both actors and producers have agreed that any safety recommendations in
the forthcoming report will be written into the next four-year contract,
which is expected to be signed this spring.
Dvora Djoraev, who played one of the Valkyries in the San Francisco
Opera's acclaimed Ring cycle, said it was frustrating to be among those
who were affected by fog. She has filed a workers' compensation claim,
charging that exposure to fog triggered a deep cough, sinus pain, headache
and dizziness.
"I think some people think it's all in our minds," she said. "Others who
are affected by it, but not as much, are very worried it will get worse in
the future."
Monona Rossol, safety director for the International Alliance of
Theatrical Stage Employees in New York, has been battling theater
producers over fog for 20 years. "This is a very touchy subject, well
known in the business but not well understood by the general public," she
said.
Rossol takes issue with industry studies that have downplayed the health
effects of chemical fogs. "A little dry throat, night after night, is the
end of a career for an opera singer," she said. "And what about the
audience? They have no business spraying them with anything. You've got
children with asthma, and people in wheelchairs on life support."
According to the San Francisco Opera's Walton, a notice posted in the
lobby at the Memorial Opera House tells patrons whether fog effects, loud
noises or strobe lights -- which pose some risk of triggering epilepsy --
will be used in a given production.
Rosco Laboratories' Tishman hopes that the latest Broadway study of fog
safety, and new standards being developed by the trade group Entertainment
Services and Technology Association, will put the long-running controversy
to rest.
And the theater industry, facing competition from the pyrotechnics and
computer animation of movies, shows no sign of backing away from the
audience- pleasing spectacle of fog.
For Pamela Dale, such prospects are just a continuation of a nightmare.
She does not want a special effect to destroy the artistry of other
performers. "I'm 52 years old," she said. "That's too young, in opera, to
be over-the-hill.
. . . I can't believe this is happening."

HOW FOG IS MADE
-- Glycol foggers: A mixture of glycol alcohols is vaporized by heating
them to about 650 degrees Fahrenheit. As the hot vapor rushes into cooler
air, the alcohols condense into a warm mist of highly reflective,
microscopic droplets. Because it is warm, glycol fog lingers in the air
for a long "hang time."
-- Dry ice: An old mainstay of the stage, dry ice is carbon dioxide gas
frozen at minus-112 degrees F. When a stream of water droplets or steam
passes over the dry ice, it produces a cloud of water droplets that,
because they are cold, tend to cling closely to the stage floor and
disperse quickly.
-- Mineral oil: Food-grade mineral oil is dispersed in an extremely fine
mist using high pressure air or carbon dioxide that forces particles
through microscopic holes. The particles create a haze that accentuates
and magnifies the beams of spotlights. They may linger on stage for
several hours.
-- Liquid nitrogen: A spray of extremely cold liquid nitrogen (minus-325
degrees F.) condenses moisture already present in the air, creating a cold
fog of water droplets..Source: Entertainment Services & Technology
AssociationChronicle Graphic
E-mail Sabin Russell at srussell@s...
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Copyright 2001 SF Chronicle



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