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Biological Pollutants
in Your Home. 2006. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/425.html
A no-frills report on biological pollutants and the
problems they cause inside the home, this is a must-read. Every home has
its secret places where the remains of tiny organisms collect to become
food for many forms of life, including potentially unhealthy bacteria
and mold. Modern and old building materials, air conditioners and
humidifiers, are all implicated in this problem. Most commonly
associated health problems are allergies (including asthma), infectious
diseases, and toxic reactions.
If you plan on remodeling a house, you will find
easy-to-follow steps to reduce exposure to the bugs, bacteria, and fungi
in the corners of your old house. Suggestions for moisture control
include ideas like using vapor barriers underneath carpeting and simply
fixing leaks and cleaning filters.
Indoor Air Pollution
and Health. Kmucha, S.T. 2000. American Academy of Otolaryngologist –
Head and Neck Surgery. (Magazine article)
www.entnet.org/education/resources/airpollution.cfm
By national standards, we spend about 90% of our time
indoors. This fact suggests that while inside maybe we should have our
guard up. Indoor air quality has worsened since the 1970s when
increasing oil prices led to energy efficient, airtight homes and less
dilution to pollution. Factors such as methods of home construction,
airflow standards, fresh air intake, and acceptable levels of indoor air
pollutants are regulated differently by different state and federal
agencies.
Gases such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitric
oxide, and nitrogen dioxide are air pollution problems, the origin being
gas range stoves, kerosene stoves, and heaters. Kitchens with gas stoves
may reach three times the acceptable levels when the stove is in use.
Some of the effects associated with carbon monoxide are fatigue and
chest pain in people with heart disease. Plan a survey of your home to
address any problems like the ones described in this scientific article.
Some of the leading health problems caused by indoor
air pollution and recycling of office building air are airway distress,
viruses, bacteria, mold, dander from pets, and smoking within buildings
which still accounts for a majority of cancer cases. VOCs, asbestos, and
formaldehyde are also common causes of health problems. Kmucha’s
article helps shed light on our murky tech solutions and encourages us
to research solutions.
Origin of Lead in the
United States Diet. Manton, C. and K. Krongstrand. 2005. Environmental
Sciences and Technology 39(22):8995-9000. (Journal article)
How do you know whether you have lead contamination in
your house or have eaten lead at the dinner table? The Department of
Geology at the University of Texas reports from such findings as 1,304
samples of house dust and hand wipes and 64 samples of aerosols, all of
which showed the presence of lead contamination in households. To name
just a few origins, lead in the diet comes from household dust, tin
coatings, and food supplements including calcium dietary supplements
derived from dietary limestone. While the statistics in this article are
dry for most folks, the findings are interesting, in particular the
single finding of lead contamination in children’s dietary supplements.
This is an air and soil pollution problem that we can control.
Figures include:
- Figure 1- Plots of lead in environmental samples
- Figure 2- Plots for lead in children’s diets
according to children’s’ age
- Figure 3- Plot of lead in mother’s diets
Stick With Safe Paint.
Hurst-Wajszczuk, J. Oct/Nov 2003. Mother Earth News. 200:84-87.
(Magazine article)
You probably don’t want to know what dangerous
chemicals reside in your house. A lengthy list of chemicals contained in
the paint alone, includes ammonia, heavy metals, silica, formaldehyde,
mildew inhibitors, and unfortunately much more. Many kinds of house
paint can cause acute problems like dizziness and nausea along with
chronic problems of the liver, respiratory, and nervous system. This
paper is a consumer-level summary of the dangers of paint toxins, such
as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) (that “new paint smell”) and
alternative coatings.
There is nothing radical proposed by this article
other than it gives a thorough explanation and source listing of
recycled, reused, re-blended, reprocessed, and natural paints. Hurst-Wajszczuk
recommends making health-conscious, consumer decisions by buying low to
no-VOC paints that dry faster and can even be made at home. All the
major paint companies offer no-to low-VOC paints, all you have to do is
choose the color.
Human Exposure to
Volatile Organic Pollutants: Implications for Indoor Air Studies.
Wallace, L. 2001. Annual Review of Energy and the Environment.
26:269-301. (Journal article)
If you needed any more data to convince yourself of
the harmful effects to humans from organic pollutants, this article
examines ten years worth of data measuring human exposure to Volatile
Organic Compounds (VOCs) with newer studies employing new monitors and
breath measurements which have overturned some old and accepted ideas
about the sources of VOCs. While benzene emissions are highest near
petroleum processing factories, surprisingly, human benzene levels have
little to do with proximity to petroleum operations. In fact, areas
where humans resided close to these factories, smoking posed more of a
significant threat to health.
Wallace summarizes the basic findings of this study:
cigarettes are the biggest source of benzene and styrene; chlorinated
water is the biggest source of chloroform, which is either absorbed
dermally, consumed and/or inhaled; dry-cleaned clothes contain
tetrachloroethylene which is absorbed through the skin; mothballs and
room air deodorizers contain P-DCB, which is inhaled; and solvent
cleaners and paint strippers are sources of methylene chloride which are
also absorbed through the skin. The article concludes by saying that not
major industrial sources, but unregulated indoor sources are often the
main causes of environmental threats. | |
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