Indoor Air Polution
THE EMERGENCE OF chemically sensitive people into self-help and advocacy groups, together with greater media coverage of asbestos, lead, radon, formaldehyde and pesticide contamination of the home, are accelerating development of home detection kits, more involvement by local public health departments, stronger regulations, lawsuits and lots of other activity that contrasts with the “home sweet home” image. The movement against indoor air pollution is probably the fastest grass roots environmental drive in the country. Just scan the checklist scorecard early in this section to get an idea of the variety of gases, chemicals, and particulates that could be present in your home. Some can be controlled by the will of dwellers—proper coverings, ceasing tobacco smoking, reduced use of aerosols. Others can be curtailed by using household alternatives for common hazardous products in the home, as simply detailed in one of the following articles.
But there are toxic emissions from the materials that make up the building itself, including asbestos, old leaded pipes leaching into drinking water, or from nature itself such as radon. “I find it appalling that our children can actually be harmed by deleterious substances without ever leaving their homes,” wrote London real estate investor, Godfrey Bradman. Unique among his business colleagues, Mr. Bradman sponsored the publication of a book titled Hazardous Building Materials: A Guide to the Selection of Alternatives (1986, edited by Curwell and March, E.& F.N. Spon Ltd., London) for builders and repair firms. In our country, The Healthy House Catalog (1988, Environmental Health Watch and Housing Resource Center, Cleveland, Ohio) reflects the emerging literature which lists categories of pollutants, testing firms, equipment and other bits and leads. But CAVEAT: just as in the home water filtration business, the indoor pollution detection and treatment business is replete with shady firms and deceptive practices. Presently, the marketing abuses are way ahead of the prosecutors or the standard setting enforcement agencies. Consumer Reports and the Canadian magazine, Protect Yourself, among others, are striving to keep up with their brand-name testing of such products as humidifiers, portable air cleaners, radon detectors, home water treatment devices and many more. Watch for them, for they may be your only reliable comparative shopping service. In the meantime, absorb the information contained herein which you can apply yourself to diminish these toxics in the home and head off a pesticide or other chemical emergency afflicting a member of your family.
Tags: formaldehyde and pesticide contamination of the home, lead, media coverage of asbestos, radon, toxic emissions