Focus on Energy: “R” Wars — Cellulose and Fiberglass Duke It Out

In 1990, a California contractor lost a $56,000 suit brought by a homeowner who charged that she had been made sick by loose-fill fiberglass attic insulation sucked in through gaps in her hvac ducts. But the case, while significant, was just one skirmish in what has shaped up as an all-out turf war between the manufacturers of fiberglass and cellulose for the loose-fill attic insulation market. The fiberglass industry questions cellulose’s claims of fire retardancy, while cellulose manufacturers say that fiberglass is carcinogenic. With each side producing volumes of evidence to support its charges, what’s the builder to believe? Cellulose Attacks An organization called “Victims of Fiberglass” (VOF) has been a standard bearer in the effort to portray loose-fill fiberglass as a cancer risk