For People Who Need to be Motivated to Clean Their Indoor Air
By Mike Gunion and Joe Castner
While we worry about smog, worse pollution is closer to home. In fact it is in our homes. As reporter Chandra Shikhar discovered, “more than three decades after the Clean Air Act, the air outdoors is much cleaner, even with many more people, cars and industries … but indoor air is another matter.” "It is an insidious kind of poisoning of our lives," said former California state legislator, Fred Keeley who successfully fought for indoor air regulation. “Pollutants inside buildings vastly outnumber those outside”, said Jed Waldman, who heads the Indoor Air Quality program at the California Department of Health Services. http://www.nasw.org/users/chandra/Clips/indoor_pollution.htm Yet there’s good news. You can take a few, powerfully simple steps to make the air inside your home – the one place you can control – better than the air outside. Here’s to living healthier and longer with clean air at home.
Five Alarming Facts to Motivate You to Act
- 50 percent of all illnesses are either caused or aggravated by poor indoor air quality.
- Asthma is now the most common chronic disorder in childhood, affecting an estimated 6.2 million children in the U.S., according to the American Lung Association.
- The EPA ranks poor indoor air quality as one of top five public health risks. (Asthma, allergies, and other breathing difficulties, lung and heart disease, headaches and dizziness.)
- Americans spend nearly 90% of their time indoors.
- Indoor air pollution can be two to fives times to sometimes 100 times higher than outdoor air pollution.
Who is Most Vulnerable to Dirty Air?
Those most at risk to polluted air at home:
- Infants and young children.
- People with asthma, allergies or other respiratory illnesses or who have heart or lung problems – especially those who also lead stressful lives.
- Elderly, most of whom have reduced lung capacity.
- Smokers and those who live with them.
- People who work at home.
- Those in colder climates who tend to stay inside even longer.
- People in urban areas.
- Those living in energy-efficient or other well-built homes that seal air inside.
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