The buyer Federation of America cites indoor air pollution as a major health problem, and the Epa ranks it among the top five environmental risks to collective health. The place that we want to feel the most procure can make you ill and at the very worse can cause a life threating disease. The Epa has identified over 3,000 substances in indoor air that are potential heath hazards. Lead paint, radon gas, asbestos, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide are the major contributors to indoor air pollution. According to the Epa, indoor air may be ten times more toxic than outdoor air and over 10,000 people could be killed in a year by indoor air pollution. In 1979 the Surgeon normal pointed out that "There is virtually no major chronic disease to which environmental factors do not contribute, directly or indirectly." In 1985 the department of Housing and Urban Development required that warning labels be posted in manufactured houses with regard to products that cause indoor air pollution and health problems.
The American healing relationship reports that people living in new homes have a 45 percent higher incidence of respiratory infection than those living in older homes. The question with the new homes started with the vigor emergency in the seventies. Homes were built tighter and more vigor efficient. This efficiency would not allow the house to breath and expel the bad air that accumulates. In the winter the same air would be circulated straight through out the house.
The main source of lead contamination continues to be lead-based paint. Children are at the greatest risk from eating paint chips or breathing paint dust. Adults are exposed more often in the workplace, especially in construction. Children and adults can be exposed to high amounts of lead paint during renovations when paint is sanded or burned off. The effects of lead on children is more serious than adults because of a child's body size and metabolism. Exposure to lead can cause temporary or permanent neurobehavioral and developmental problems. Lead accumulates in the kidneys and liver causing dysfunction and eventual failure. Lead can also lead to blood disease. The symptoms of lead poisoning includes loss of appetite, irritability, joint pains, fatigue and purple lines on the gums. Lead can be gently removed from the blood stream with Edta or penicillamine but if it gets into the bone, where it has a half-life of twenty years, it is difficult to ever voice low blood levels.
Homes built before 1940 may include concentrations of lead paint as high as 50 percent, houses built before 1978 are thought about at risk. Between 40 and 50 percent of housing in the United States still have lead paint. An Xrf analyzer measures the lead content of painted surfaces without removing paint and gives an immediate on-site reading. If you have lead paint the easiest and safest formula is to thoroughly cover it. Stripping lead paint is dangerous and is regulated by state and local laws.
Radon gas comes from decaying uranium. The uranium changes into radon gas which moves straight through the soil into the air. When it is mixed with fresh air it gets diluted to low levels that generally pose no threat to ones health. The gas can get trapped in your house and build up to dangerous and unhealthy levels. Surprisingly the gas is not the question but the limited particles that it produces are. As you breath in the particles they stick to the inside of your lungs. Two of these particles, Polonium 218 and Poloium 214, can release an alpha particle that can damage the lung cells and growth the chance of developing lung cancer.
There are any radon testing devices: charcoal canisters and bags, electret-ion-chambers, continuous radon monitors, and charcoal liquid scintillation bottles. The test must be held in a finished house, and for the best results, over an extended duration of time. Two days to three months is the minimum number of time required and sometimes an whole year is needed for an strict test. Radon levels can change from day to day and with the change of the seasons.
The best way to deal with unacceptable levels of radon is to seal your foundation and vent the gas away from the house. Some systems are as easy as installing a drain pipe in the ground then attaching a fan to suck the gas from under the house. The cost is commonly Between 500 and 2,000 dollars.
Asbestos has been widely used for a range of items that want insulating qualities and or fire resistance. Houses built Between 1930 and 1950 may have asbestos as insulation. Roofing and siding shingles were made of asbestos cement. Asbestos siding is most prevalent in the northern states because of its insulating qualities. It may be gift in textured paint and patching compounds used on walls and ceiling joints, their use was banned in 1977. Artificial ashes and embers sold for use in gas-fired fireplaces may include asbestos. Older products such as stove-top pads may have some asbestos compounds. Walls and floors around woodburning stoves may be protected with asbestos paper, millboard, or cement sheets. Asbestos can be found in some vinyl floor tiles and the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and adhesives. Hot water and steam pipes in older houses may be coated with an asbestos material or covered with an asbestos blanket or tape. Oil and coal furnaces and door gaskets may have asbestos insulation.
In 1972 the Epa announced that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure. Any exposure to the fibers involves some health risk. Asbestos can cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis. Smokers that are exposed to asbestos are five times more at risk of developing lung cancer than a non-smoker. It can take from ten to thirty years after exposure for health problems to develop. Most people who compact lung cancer and mesothelioma die within two years and there is no known cure for asbestosis.
If you think that asbestos may be in your home, do not panic! Usually, the best thing to do is to leave it alone. Asbestos material in good health will not release fibers. There is no danger unless fibers are released and inhaled into the lungs. Disturbing it may create a health hazard where none existed before. If asbestos material is damaged, or if you are going to make changes in your home that might disturb it, mend or extraction should be done by a professional. Before you have your home remodeled, find out whether asbestos materials are present.
Formaldehyde is a colorless pungent gas that can be suffocating and poisonous in high dosages. It is emitted in building materials and buyer products that include formaldehyde-based glues, resins, preservatives and bonding agents. It was also an ingredient in home insulation foam used until the early eighties. Formaldehyde can be found in glue, paint preservatives, particle-board, hardwood plywood paneling and medium density fiberboard. Unvented appliances such as gas stoves and kerosene space heaters can also emit formaldehyde fumes.
Over exposure to formaldehyde can cause watery eyes, burning in the throat and eyes, nausea, skin rash, coughing, tiredness, immoderate thirst, nosebleeds, insomnia, disorientation and difficulty in breathing. High concentrations may trigger attacks in asthmatics and may cause cancer. There is a study that formaldehyde may be a factor in sudden infant death syndrome.
Products manufactured with formaldehyde will release gas for two to five years. Sunshine will break down the gas much more rapidly, but heat and humidity will growth the number of gas released into the air. It is best to check with the manufacturer to find out if formaldehyde was used in the product. Sealing the material with paint, lacquers or varnish will decrease the emissions, as a last resort get rid of the offending materials. Try to avoid buying pressed wood products and buy real wood
furniture and building materials.
Carbon monoxide is the prominent cause of poisoning in the United States, more than 200 deaths a year are attributed to carbon monoxide. Carbon Monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that interferes with the delivery of oxygen straight through the body. At low concentrations it can cause fatigue in wholesome people and chest pain in people with heart disease. At higher concentrations you can caress impaired foresight and coordination, headaches, dizziness, blurring and nausea. At very high concentrations you can come to be unconscious, after that if you do not receive oxygen then you will die.
Back-drafting from furnaces, unvented kerosene and gas space heaters, leaking chimneys and furnaces, gas water heaters, wood and gas stoves, fireplaces and even automobile exhaust from attached garages can emit carbon monoxide. Make sure your home is ventilated if you use anything with gas or kerosene. Be sure your flue is open when using the fireplace and try to burn hardwood. Hardwoods burn hotter and form less creosote. inspect the chimney annually and mend any leaks promptly. buy a carbon monoxide detector at any home furnish store.
We have the top thorough of living in the world but some of the products that make life so comfortable have deadly under tones. As consumers we need to be educated to the health hazards that we face everyday. Education can only come from being informed and we cannot count on the manufacturers and retailers to tell us all things that we need to know. We must take the time to research the findings of doctors, scientists and health organizations to protect ourselves and our families.
Toxins in the Home