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Indoor air quality worse than thought
03 March 2009 / Laura Sevier/ The Ecologist
So much for home sweet home. When it comes to indoor air quality, the chances are you’re better off wandering the fume-filled streets of London than sitting at home in front of the telly.
Take your favourite sofa, for instance. Did you know that particles of the fabric can abrade and be taken up by your nose, mouth and lungs? According to German chemist Michael Braungart, co-founder of Cradle to Cradle design, the fabric is likely to contain ‘mutagenic materials, heavy metals, dangerous chemicals, and dyes that are often labelled as hazardous by regulators – except when they are presented and sold to a customer’. Braungart has carried out ‘off-gassing experiments’ on everyday products such as carpets, plastic toys and electric shavers to analyse their toxic gaseous emissions. Some of the worst offenders include vinyl wallpaper and flooring, laser printers and photocopy machines (the toner dust can be easily inhaled), glues, paints and household appliances such as TVs and washing machines. His verdict? ‘Indoor air is much worse than outdoor London air,’ he says. ‘Inside, you have chemicals in a sealed building.’
It’s a view supported by a growing body of scientific evidence. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first blew the whistle on poor indoor air quality in 1986; the UK’s Building Research Establishment (BRE) published devastating findings in 1996. And yet, while there are European mandatory standards for some pollutants in ambient (outdoor) air, still there is none for indoor air.
We spend much of our lives in buildings, be they homes, offices, schools or shops. Studies from Europe and the US show we spend an average 90 per cent of our time indoors. We are what we breathe. Whatever is in the air ends up in your body, so good quality air is of vital importance...Read Full Article
image reference: Half-Open Window by G-Unit23