Indoor Air is 2-5 Times More Polluted than Outdoor Air! Is Yours?

It probably is. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the air in our homes and offices is two to five times more polluted than the outdoor air. The EPA has ranked indoor air pollution as a high priority public health risk. The World Health Organization and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have also concluded that preventing exposure to environmental allergens and irritants may help prevent asthma. If you're like most people, you spend up to 90% of your time indoors. If you can find a way to reduce airborne pollutants and allergens that you breathe, you may be able to increase your vitality and health and reduce allergies and asthma attacks.

According to the American Lung Association (ALA), air pollution in our homes can be reduced in three different ways, by controlling the source of pollution, by increasing ventilation and by cleaning the air. These are listed in their order of effectiveness, so this means that it is most important to reduce the amount of pollution you are creating or bringing into your home.

We don't always think of the following as sources of air pollution, but depending on the type of product, all of these can be significant sources of pollution and irritation in our homes: paints & varnishes, furniture, insulation and building materials (especially particle board and plywood), carpets, combustion appliances (gas heaters, stoves, etc.), smoking, cleaning and personal care products, pets, dust mites, mold and fine particulate matter from outdoor pollution and forest fires.

In order to control the sources of pollution in your home, you need to do as many of the following suggestions as possible:

Use low emission paints, varnishes, carpets and furniture, including beds, mattresses and bedding items
Use only non-toxic, natural, cleaning and personal care products
Vacuum and clean regularly to keep the level of dust mites down
Maintain low humidity in your home, by using exhaust fans or opening windows after a bath or shower
Replace wall-to-wall synthetic carpeting with tile, hardwood floors or some other natural, non-toxic, hard flooring
Service your combustion appliances regularly so as to decrease combustion emissions such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides
Get rid of combustion appliances if at all possible, especially if your are chemically sensitive
Keep doors and windows shut when outdoor pollution levels are at unhealthy levels from smog and/or forest fires
Banish your pets to the outside or garage if pet dander is troublesome

Although all of the above are excellent suggestions, it is very difficult and very expensive to control all of the sources of pollution in our homes. Building and furnishing "green" homes is definitely a wave of the future, but most people don't have a non-toxic "green" home today and don't have the money to redo their house in a totally "green" way. Also, there are some things like forest fires and smog that we don't have much day-to-day control over.

So the second suggestion to help you reduce indoor air pollution is increasing ventilation. In other words, get more fresh air into your home! Open windows and doors, turn on kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans and mechanical ventilation systems, such as the fan on your central heat and air system, if it is vented to the outside.

This biggest problem with this second suggestion is that both the weather and the outdoor pollution do not always make it feasible to bring in outside air.

Cleaning the Air

The third suggestion for reducing the pollution in your home is to use an air purification device to clean the air. Even though air cleaners by themselves are not the best solution to keeping your indoor air clean (source control is the best!), they can definitely be a part of the solution.

According to the American Lung Association, air cleaning is recognized as one of the three strategies to improve indoor air quality. It has become increasingly popular as more and more people are developing asthma, allergies and sinus problems. For example, it is estimated that over 17 million people now have asthma, and the mortality rate due to asthma has almost doubled in the past decade (according to the ALA). Air cleaning has been widely used in industrial settings to control particulates, gases and vapors, and is now increasingly being turned to for use in residential settings. However, there is a big difference in air purifiers, and the inexpensive ones simply do not do a good job of cleaning the air.

In conclusion, most of us are breathing polluted air in our homes and offices for most of the day. You can reduce this indoor air pollution by reducing the sources of pollution, by opening windows and bringing in fresh air, and by using a high quality air purifiers.