|
COPYRIGHT 2003 Australian Consumers' Association
IN A NUTSHELL
* Despite our 'outdoors' image, Australians may spend 90% or more of our time indoors, where air pollution levels can be worse than outdoors.
* Our increased efforts to make our homes energy-efficient can have harmful health effects.
* Unflued gas appliances are major contributors to indoor air pollution.
* Many products we use in our homes emit harmful air pollutants.
You can get it heating your house or cleaning it, pulling out old structures or adding new ones--you can even get it cooking a meal ... and we're not talking of thirst. But the sources of indoor air pollution are just about as varied.
We all know that smoking indoors will damage not only your own health but also that of every other household member. But did you know that heating your home with an unflued gas heater could expose you to high levels of dangerous air pollutants? That adhesives and sealants used in many pressed-wood products could emit pollutants for years to come? And that many commonly used cleaning products and toiletries could give off a cocktail of air toxics?
HOW BAD IS THE AIR?
Indoor air pollution is increasingly recognised as one of the top five public health problems. In Australia, the CSIRO estimates it could cost us approximately $10 billion a year in health costs and lost production. This figure is only estimated because there's little data available so far on the level of pollutants in Australian homes and the number of people affected.
Indoor air quality is expensive and difficult to measure--pollution levels can vary from time to time, from house to house, or even from one room to the next. But studies so far have established that some air pollutants are generally much more highly concentrated indoors than outdoors, particularly in new and newly renovated buildings, mobile homes, houses heated with unflued gas appliances, and in households where people smoke.
HEALTH EFFECTS
Just as varied as the range of potential indoor air pollutants are their health effects. Symptoms can be mild and non-specific such as headaches, tiredness or lethargy; similar to colds and flu such as irritated eyes, nose or throat; or more severe such as aggravation of asthma or allergic responses. They can even lead to respiratory diseases, cancer or death.
Not all pollutants' health effects are well known, and even less is known about their cumulative effects or how they'll compromise your health if you're constantly exposed. People who are generally more sensitive to air pollutants include newborns and young children, elderly people, heart patients, people with bronchitis, asthma, hay fever or emphysema, and smokers. Some effects may show up soon after a single exposure, others only after years. The sections on individual air pollutants, pages 32-35, list some specific health effects.
Most homes have many sources of potential indoor air pollutants (see Figure 1, page 33). Whether they'll affect your health--and if so, to what degree --depends on many factors: the type of pollutant and level of exposure, your personal...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
