Bad air days aren't just outdoors
April 18, 2006

It's so cruel – just as the weather gets warmer, the shorts come out of the bottom drawer and the sidewalk patios begin to fill with sun-seekers, the sludgy haze of smog that hangs over the city shows itself.

But before urbanites head for the hills, know that we're all –even the country mice– plagued by foul air inside our homes, schools and workplace.

The Australian has an interesting article about indoor air pollution that includes such stunners as:

• The average Australian home is between three and 20 times more polluted than outside.
• A pollutant released indoors is 1,000 more times likely to reach a person's lungs than a pollutant released outdoors.

Most of us spend most of our time indoors at home, work and school – and it's inside those walls where you'll find the highest levels of pollution, The Australian reports:

The big culprits include soft furnishings, vinyl floors, cabinetry, floor varnishes and paints that all emit a dangerous cocktail of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Pressed wood kitchen cabinets, some furniture and flooring is packed with toxic glues and formaldehyde. Vinyl floors contain toxic glues, carpets and the glues they are fixed with can also give off volatile chemicals (they also soak up pesticides, solvents and lead dust). Hard floors meanwhile can be a problem if they're finished with polyurethane floor varnishes, which contain chemicals that have been linked to liver, heart and brain damage, birth defects and low birth weight.

via: Environmental Health News

related Marketplace stories: Chasing the Cancer Answer

related murmurs: U.S. streams contaminated with pesticides: report, Environmentalists test Canadians for pollutants, How many toxins are in you?

murmur categories: environment, health, home

tags: consumers consumer news consumerism pollution toxins environment green eco environment carcinogens chemicals

posted by Tessa | 14:02 PM (ET) | Permalink