Indoor Pollution? Your House May Pose Health Risks

The health risks of industrial pollution and exhaust fumes have been known for years. But what many of us don't know is that indoor pollution is generally even worse.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that most homes have pollution levels two to five times higher than the outdoors does. Doctor Nathan Yost, MD, a medical doctor and a professional contractor, has some information on how to breathe easier at home.

There are a number of things you can do inexpensively:

• Clean your home.
  
• Don't smoke.
  
• Don't store chemicals in the house that are known to be toxic.

Many cleaning compounds will leak out and get into the air. One of the best things you can do is control the indoor humidity in order to affect the likelihood of dust mites and the potential for mold. In most older houses, the problem is that the humidity is too low.

The incidence of asthma and allergies has increased dramatically since 1980. It appears that exposure to dust mites and cockroaches may trigger them. Most people could clean more effectively: Don't just think of house cleaning as something you do for cosmetic reasons. Think of it as something that can improve your family's health.

As a consultant for the American Lung Association's (ALA) health house project, what do you advise if people don't feel particularly ill but their house is not up to the ALA's standards? Is it really necessary to change things?Carbon monoxide is not something you can necessarily smell. The other thing, especially relating to children, is that there's fairly good evidence that exposure in the first couple years of life to dust mites and cockroach parts increases susceptibility to asthma and allergies.

Five Tips

1. Check combustible appliances such as gas- or oil-burning stoves, hot-water heaters, and furnaces frequently: They are major problems. This is harder to do yourself. You should have professional help. Furnaces and hot-water heaters should be checked annually, and a lot of people will have that done periodically, but it's something you need to think about.

If you can smell fumes then you know you have a problem, but since carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, you may have high levels and not know it. A carbon monoxide detector costs about $30. There are at least 300 deaths a year that are not suicide that are attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning in the home. For example, New York had a case of a physician who disconnected his carbon monoxide alarm because of false alarms and came back one morning only to find that his wife and children were dead.

2. Remove toxic chemicals (cleaning solutions, insect spray) from living areas and store them in a shed or the garage. Eliminate spray pesticides or spray cleaning solutions unless they are absolutely necessary, because they release too many chemicals.

3. Control moisture. People don't think about moisture so much as being a problem, but if thhumidity level gets to about 50%, dust mites thrive. And anywhere above 50%, mold can grow, and insects don't like dry environments. One of the things that will permit insects to live in a building is moisture, and cockroaches are linked to asthma in children. If you have exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathroom, use them after shower or cooking to reduce moisture. There's an inexpensive instrument called a hygrometer that measures relative humidity. Humans and pets all put a pint or more of moisture in the air every day. This becomes an issue in newer construction because it's relatively tight and doesn't allow outside mold in. If you're buying a new home, there are some structures that can be built to bring air in that you can ask the contractor or real estate agent about.

4. Limit second-hand smoke. It's not something we think of in terms of the building, especially for those who do not smoke. But there's evidence that smoking in the house in the first years of the life of a chld raises asthma levels.

5. Do preventive cleaning. Preventive cleaning can consist of simple things like taking shoes off at the door. This doesn't simply prevent bringing dirt in. In some homes there are such high concentrations of lead and measured levels of cadmium near the front door that it could be declared superfund site. Near freeways there are high levels of dirt, so either taking shoes off or using a removable mat that can be cleaned can be extremely helpful. Effective cleaning and carpet vacuuming need to be done frequently and thoroughly.

We know from epidemiological studies that if you look at people living in damp houses, they have a higher incidence of respiratory infection and allergies.
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