subject: Your Home May Be Killing You: How Indoor Air Pollution Is Deadly [print this page] Indoor air pollution is a killer that takes its victims silently. When presented with the phrase "air pollution," it's easy to picture car fumes, huge industrial smoke stacks, and hazy cities. However, the air inside your home or business is around four to five times more polluted than the air outside. It's a little shocking, to say the least. Indoor air pollution has been declared the number one environmental problem in the United States, and it's theorized that around 50% of all illnesses are caused from indoor air pollution. But, by switching to an eco-friendly multi-purpose cleaner can reduce these risks. As you can see, this subject is pretty serious. Do you know how your home ranks?
Children are much more vulnerable to bad air than adults because, in general, they breathe faster. Children take in about 50% more air per body size than a regular adult. A child who is crawling on the floor inhales the same amount of pollution equal to four whole cigarettes. This is caused by the out-gassing associated with mildew and mold, dust mites, fungus and other irritants located in and around the floor, the furniture, and other household surfaces. Cleaning products are also a dangerous source of pollution. These products are made up of harsh chemicals that have the potential to harm everyone in your home.
Indoor air pollution has countless contributors. Some of the most common ones are molds, mildews, pollen spores, pet dander, and radon, a highly radioactive gas that can be blamed for tens of thousands of deaths from lung cancer every year. Carbon monoxide, or CO, inhibits oxygen flow to the brain which leads to nausea, unconsciousness, and eventually death. Carbon dioxide, CO2, causes headaches and drowsiness in homes.
VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, may sound like an unfamiliar term, but you are more familiar with them than you might know. VOCs are gases that come from some liquids or solids. While they may be invisible, it's generally the smell you notice. These odors come from a variety of familiar household products: paints, glue, permanent markers, and cleaning products. When you inhale this smell, you are actually inhaling the chemicals from the product. You know that headache-inducing smell you get when cleaning with bleach? The chemicals from that bleach are going directly into your lungs. These VOCs are highly regulated, but because the sources are many, it is increasingly difficult. Concentrations of VOCs are sometimes ten times higher inside than outside, especially with the air-tight quality and insulation that houses are being built with more these days.
Reducing the level of pollution inside your house is easier than you might know. Just switching cleaning products is an easy and effective first step. You see, organic household cleaners, like those from Nasgreen, make cleaning your home safe for everyone in your household. Because there are no harsh chemicals in the formula, you don't need to worry about terrible fumes and chemical residues.
