Air It Out - indoor air pollution

Vegetarian Times, Dec, 2000 by Susan Reifer

The weather outside is frightful, but inside it's so delightful. Or is it?

According to the World Health Organization, indoor air pollution is responsible for more deaths worldwide than outdoor air in even the most contaminated cities. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers indoor air one of the four most urgent environmental health risks in North America (where we don't heat homes with coal or warm food with cow dung), up there with atmospheric air pollution, toxic chemicals in the workplace and contaminated drinking water. Dust mites, mold and pollen are the part of the picture most people know, but the air in your home is also likely to contain hazardous chemical contaminants that, in strong enough doses for long enough periods of time, have the toxicity to cause disease and even death. This may sound extreme, but it's a reality founded in scientific fact. It's also true that you can improve indoor air quality with simple, mostly inexpensive steps. You can breathe easily in the comforts of your home if you're careful about what you bring inside and commit to regular cleaning and maintenance.

Indoor air pollutants fall into three categories: biological, particulate and gaseous, Biological refers to living things like airborne bacteria or byproducts of living things, like dust mite droppings; particulate pollutants include tiny pieces of fly ash (fine particles of ash, dust and soot), asbestos or common dust; and a gaseous contaminant could be the benzene that seeps out of paint thinner. These unwelcome guests enter your house on your hands and shoes, are present in new home furnishings and seep in through the basement floor. They might float in with the breeze, then find an undisturbed corner and settle in for a nice, long stay. Some of the most noxious home pollutants, like carbon monoxide, are released through poorly maintained heaters and stoves. Viruses and bacteria are spread through the home by poorly maintained ventilation systems. Still others, like toxic molds, simply grow.

"The highest danger comes from volatile organic chemicals [VOCs], asbestos and radon," explains Robert Eitches, M.D., an allergy specialist at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "Those are the indoor air pollutants that would be dangerous in the sense of ending your life too soon." The VOCs contained in paint, varnish, wax and many cleaning products react with one another in the air and can interfere with your body's natural processes. While some VOCs have no known health effects, others can cause medical problems ranging from ear, nose and throat irritation to liver, kidney and central nervous system damage.

The most common indoor problem, however, is allergies. Eitches estimates that 20 percent of the American population has some form of airborne allergy. Allergens can be big trouble for the estimated 17 million Americans with asthma too. Dust mites, Eitches says, rank as the number one allergen, although in urban environments, cockroach dust (which is actually disintegrated cockroach bodies) is almost as bad. And molds, a common problem except in the dry Southwest, can cause both allergic and toxic reactions and are, of all indoor pollutants, the hardest to eradicate.

Our bodies have mechanisms to protect us from low levels of pollutants, but that's not always sufficient in the constant battle against indoor air impurifies. EPA research shows most Americans spend 90 percent of their time indoors. The percentage of time spent between four walls is even higher for the very young, the very old, those with chronic illnesses and most urban dwellers. (If it sounds impossible, do the math. How often do you spend two hours and 24 minutes a day outside?) EPA studies also show that levels of common air pollutants--like nitrogen dioxide and invisible particulates large enough to inhale--are regularly two to five times higher indoors than outdoors. The solution: stopping indoor air pollutants at the source. With a bit of awareness, it's easier than you'd think.

Why Good Air Matters

All animals--bugs and birds, frogs and dogs, you and I--require air. Air contains oxygen molecules that fuel the body's viral processes. Red blood cells carry this oxygen throughout the body, where every cell, organ and system requires it to function.

Most adults, when sitting still, take 14 to 20 complete breaths per minute. (That rate can go as high as 80 breaths per minute during a strenuous workout.) With each average inhalation, you take in a pint of air. With a deep breath, you "drink" approximately three times that amount. If all you did was breathe while sitting, then you would consume about 107,000 cubic feet of air per year. That is why air contaminants, measured at parts per million, can eventually overwhelm your body's ability to protect against them.

Clean air contains 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, .04 percent carbon dioxide, small amounts of other gases (such as argon, methane and nitrous oxide) and water vapor. But the air many of us breathe today is rarely that pure. The best-known pollutant is ozone, or smog, a form of oxygen created when sunlight warms emissions from automobiles, factories and other fuel combusters. According to an American Lung Association (ALA) report this year, 133 million Americans in 120 urban areas are regularly immersed in dangerously high levels of ozone, especially in summer sunlight. Among the worst cities are Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York and the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. (On the positive side, outdoor air in Des Moines, Tallahassee and Colorado Springs is downright great.)