Gray Robertson

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Gray Robertson (also known as John Graham Robertson) with his partner Peter Binnie ran a highly successful, and very lucrative air-testing operation for the tobacco industry, known as Air Conditioning & Ventilation Associates (ACVA), which spawned many imitators. ACVA later split into two: ACVA Atlantic and ACVA Pacific with another operation run by Gray's brother Joe Robertson who ran the Asian and Pacific operations from Sydney.

Robertson was an industry consultant and business owner in the field of building ventilation and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)' testing: He was also a long time consultant for the tobacco industry and, in fact, the Tobacco Institute virtually operated in an agency role, sending business to him in the knowledge that he would not increment second-hand smoke in his evaluations to any substantial degree,

ACVA was funded by the tobacco industry to always generate measurements which downplayed the role of smoke, while exaggerating the problem of formaldehydes, plastic exudates from synthetic carpets and exaggerated claims of vapors from photocopiers, etc. etc. ... and then recommending solutions which included faster rates of air-exchange in offices, and expensive reconditioning of air ducting and conditioning machinery.

Such services were also supported by air-conditioning corporations and sheet-metal workers organisations. The company became only the first (but most financially rewarded) of a dozen or so air-conditioning firms contracted surreptitiously through the Tobacco Institute in America -- and similar operations also worked in other countries. ACVA extended internationally doing work for the tobacco industry in Europe and Asia. See also the Labor Management Committee

ASSOCIATED ENTITIES, STAFF AND SCAMS
ACVA and ACVA Atlantic
Healthy Buildings International (HBI)
Peter WH Binnie and Joseph Robertson
Richard Silberman and Simon Turner
Jeffrey R Seckler and Reginald B. Simmons
Business Council on Indoor Air
The Legionnaire's disease scam
Sick Building Syndrome
ACVA/HBI (Doc Index)

Healthy Buildings International

Later Robertson took over and restructured the company, creating Healthy Buildings International (HBI), becoming its sole owner, although he franchised some regional operations and brought his brother, Joe Robertson, in to manage Australian and Asia-Pacific operation out of Sydney. With the business expanding internationally. Robertson hired Reginald B. Simmons in 1986 as a field technician and project team supervisor. At that time the main company was still known as ACVA Atlantic.

In the late 1980s Gray Robertson also hired Jeffrey R Seckler as one of his principle staffers in the USA. Seckler became the HBI spokesman and witness on various tobacco industry inquiries, but later he attempted to create his own air-testing company and the two fell out. Robertson then began systematically attempting to destroy Seckler's business and reputation, and eventually, Seckler retaliated and became a whistleblower who exposed in full detail the way the sham air-testing 'profession' operated.

Robertson was totally dependent on the tobacco industry for his very lucrative business, and he was always on hand whenever they needed help. He became a director of the Business Council on Indoor Air, and provided witness statements for the tobacco industry on demand. [4]

Biography

Gray Robertson was born and raised in Liverpool, England. He graduated from London University in 1964 with a bachelor of science degree in chemistry and botany, including extensive study of mycology (fungi). Robertson spent three years working as a bacteriologist with Evans Medical Company, Ltd., in Liverpool. He subsequently joined the Johnson Matthey Company, working for various subsidiaries in England and the United States as a chemist. He headed the chemicals division of the subsidiary, Matthey Bishop Inc., including supervision of its analytical laboratories. Robertson began focusing on the problem of indoor pollution in 1980. He worked with his associate, microbiologist/zoologist Peter Binnie. His biosketch claims they worked together to develop methodology "to identify and eliminate the sources of indoor pollution."

Method of operation

Robertson's "modus operandi" was to discount the contribution that environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) made to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) in the buildings that his staff tested with special air sampling equipment. He was paid substantial sums by the Tobacco Institute, and also by the various tobacco companies, for some of this work -- and was generously rewarded in other ways for his "denial" statements, speeches, and witness statements.

Robertson and his company provided the tobacco industry's major support for their claims that the cause of "sick buildings" and general office, restaurant, and hotel pollution problems, came from sources other than smoking. He pointed the finger at poorly maintained air-conditioning systems (which could harbor dust, bacteria and fungus), and volatile chemicals from office machines, synthetic carpets, etc.

In doing this air-quality testing, HBI staff was accused by anti smoking activist Alfred Lowrey of using using a number of ploys to reduce the smoke readings -- such as setting up their test equipment in the less smoke-polluted parts of the building, and using equipment in ways that didn't reflect the actual conditions. Some of the smoke constituents, like nicotine for instance, only have a short survival life, so the time at which measurements are taken can also be critical. HBI published a detailed rebuttal to these claims The conclusion to this rebuttal includes the following statement:

In this response to Lowrey’s non-peer-reviewed and unsubstantiated report concerning our 1992 paper, we have systematically addressed every issue he raised. Our regeneration of the entire database used to write our original paper verified that the conclusions we drew are as valid now as they were then. Further, the methods that we used to measure ETS components and the subsequent data analyses were scientifically sound and appropriate. The results reported in 1992 are similar to values reported in the majority of the published literature on the measurements of ETS in the office environment. In contrast, Lowrey (1994) misrepresented our data and misinterpreted our findings to draw unfounded and unwarranted conclusions. In addition, the selection of data convenient to his case raises serious questions about other aspects of his work (Repace and Lowrey 1980, 1982). We urge that it be critically re-examined in the light of larger, more representative and credible field studies now available and that they explain the practice of data selection evident in Lowrey (1994). The flaws in Lowrey’s report we have documented above clearly show that as an objective alternative view of our results, Lowrey’s report has no merit.

According to HBI whistle-blower, Jeff Seckler, they often resorted to guessing or changing the figures when writing up the reports.

However, in a subsequent legal settlement with HBI, Seckler admitted in writing that he knew of no wrong doing by HBI. The settlement conditions read in part,

Relator expressly acknowledges that to his knowledge HBI did not falsely and fraudulently obtain contracts from the United States and did not falsely and fraudulently perform indoor air quality inspections of United States Government buildings and did not falsely and fraudulently represent to the United States on the indoor air quality inspections it performed on government buildings.

On the web site and blog archive Tobacco On Trial, which covered the court proceedings of the 1999 U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against the major American tobacco companies, Seckler stated,

I deeply regret ever signing any agreement with tobacco interests and Healthy Buildings International to settle our lawsuit. My actions were primarily due to my poorly financed (I suspect) lawyer’s unwillingness to go to trial. My settlement statement was limited to my personal knowledge of air quality inspections (I was not an inspector) of federal buildings and in no way rescinded any of the other allegations I made about the public relations and other activities of my previous employer (HBI). I would be more than happy to discuss any of this with any interested party.

HBI was able to charge low prices for building surveys because the tobacco industry made generous contributions to the work and supported Robertson through witness, speech, travel expenses, and many other fees. He was one of their most important consultants in two areas:

• Workplace smoking -- which involved the industry's efforts to block regulation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in offices and factories.
• Public smoking -- which was the progressive crusade to isolate, and then end smoking in restaurants, hotels, casinos, and public areas.

HBI Magazine

HBI also produced a magazine on indoor-air pollution problems, which was circulated in large numbers around the world to building managers and owners, and to those involved in the ventilation industry.

It was totally controlled and funded by Philip Morris.

Public testimony

Gray Robertson appears in 1980s Philip Morris video to argue that health problems attributed to passive smoke are 'probably' caused by bad ventilation.

Gray Robertson was a favorite witness for the tobacco industry at Congressional inquiries, courtroom compensation battles, and scientific conferences. He was also thought to be an excellent spokesman in media situations, and was highly useful for promoting the industry's message that passive smoking wasn't really a problem in the workplace.

The tobacco industry paid him $500 a day personally, to travel all over the world giving testimony, speeches, etc., on their behalf. He also wrote articles for popular magazines and newsletters, or had them ghosted under his byline.

Gray Robertson has sold the company and in 1999 HBI severed all relationships with the tobacco industry.

Some Documents

1988 June 27 Report on the Indoor and Ambient Air Quality Conference, made to Philip Morris. The Conference, organized by Professor Roger Perry of Imperial College, London, was attended by approximately 200 individuals. [Note: Perry was a lifelong tobacco lackey]Eighty papers were presented, and nearly half of those presentations dealt with environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). [Note: most, but not all, by tobacco scientists]

Papers given at the Conference have been published and distributed under the title Indoor and Ambient Air Quality ( Selper Ltd., London, 1988.) In addition, fourteen selected papers appear in the June 1988 issue of Environmental Technology Letters [Note: A journal owned and edited by Prof. Roger Perry]. Copies of the proceedings and journal were made available through Professor Perry. A copy of the Conference program was attached to this memorandum. On Monday, June 13, an article (attached), appeared in the (London) Times which reported that the WHO: had withdrawn from the Conference due to tobacco industry involvement.

The report commented:

• Gray Robertson (ACVA -- later HBI) ; "Ventilation, Health and Energy Conservation: A Workable Compromise ." In what was perhaps the most entertaining and persuasive lecture of the entire Conference, Robertson discussed his experience in the evaluation and mitigation of indoor air quality problems in buildings. Robertson contended that virtually all indoor air quality problems can be traced to inadequate fresh air ventilation, poor filtration or dirty ductwork. In his experience, ETS is a marker for, and not a cause of, poor indoor air quality. Ventilation adequate to disperse CO² will also be sufficient for the removal of ETS.

Perry Conference Report

Contact

A July, 2004 press release by HBI still listed Gray Robertson as President of HBI.

Gray Robertson
Healthy Buildings International (UK Head Office)
229 Hyde End Road
Spencers Wood
Berkshire RG7 1BU
United Kingdom
Tel: (0118) 988 9999
Fax: (0118) 988 5599
Email: info AT hbi.co.uk

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

• Healthy Buildings International
• Secondhand smoke
• Gray Robertson appears in 1980s Philip Morris video to argue that health problems attributed to passive smoke are 'probably' caused by bad ventilation

Sources

<tdo archive="us,uk">"Gray Robertson" confidential</tdo>