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Some indoor residential environments are 100 times more polluted than outdoors.
An entire industry has been created to clean up indoor air. Particular attention
has been paid to offices and schools, but surprisingly little is being done where
we spent most of our time, in our homes.
With this decline in indoor air quality comes numerous negative health effects.
The most obvious effect is asthma; which has been rising steadily at about 6%
per year for the last generation; roughly the time frame in which homes have been
built more tightly. The scratchy cough, runny nose, itchy eyes, and shortness
of breath you assume are a cold, may well be an allergy to the pollution in indoor
air.
Asthma is growing most among children. Often parents are not able to recognize
asthma, so the incidence is probably higher than even modern statistics indicate.
In one study in Canada, 9-year-old’s from 7 public schools were found to have
a 22% incidence of asthma. But testing showed a further 15 per cent also had asthma,
which has not been diagnosed making the total rate of incidence 37%. The World
Health Organization, in its 1995 Global Initiative on Asthma, said "asthma
affects over 100 million people worldwide." The EPA estimates the annual
cost of asthma at over $6.2 billion.
Like hepatitis, diabetes and eating disorders, asthma is a rising, modern-day
epidemic. The good news is asthma is now known to be preventable. Where before
it was assumed family history preordained those who would suffer asthma, research
shows removal of allergens from the home can greatly affect both the chance of
developing asthma symptoms, and the severity of those symptoms.
In short, if you remove nearby allergens, you greatly reduce the risk of allergies
and illnesses such as asthma. |
