Indoor Air Quality

Know what you’re breathing.
One of the fastest routes of exposure to harmful chemicals is through your lungs – and children aremore at risk than adults due to their smaller body size. Many air fresheners and cleaning products we use in our daily lives give off vapors that can be harmful to your health if inhaled at high concentrations or over long periods of time. Additionally, smoke from oil, gas and wood heaters and tobacco products, as well as the building materials and furnishings, carpeting, and paints all around us contribute to indoor air pollution by giving off volatile organic compounds or VOCs. Even more sinister are the rogue chemicals that hitch a ride in on our clothes, shoes and belongings. Think about everything you touch during your day. Oils and gasoline in parking lots you walk through, stores and restaurants that spray pest-control that works for weeks after application where you put down your purse or backpack. Do you involuntarily bring these outside chemicals into your home to breathe or on to the surfaces where your children play and eat?

Click here to read a newsletter from Air North Texas for more information and ideas.

What can you do?
Examine the products you bring into your home and keep track of where and how often you use them. Find out what products are treated with and look for labels that say “low” or “no VOCs”. You’ll find many environmentally friendly and less hazardous alternatives to traditional household products on your grocer’s shelf. You can even make your own.

Click here for a list of homemade cleaners and safe alternatives to common household products. And be mindful of what you touch and bring into your home.

Equally important, make sure your home is properly ventilated. Most home heating and cooling systems simply re-circulate the same air throughout your house rather than bringing in fresh air. When possible, open doors and windows and let in a fresh breeze. When you do, you allow any built up pollutants to be replaced by cleaner, fresher air. Proper ventilation is a must to reduce the buildup of harmful chemical concentrations inside your home. High-grade air filters are great for dust and allergens but they are no match for pollutants generated by gas stoves, fireplaces, and household products. When cleaning and cooking, be sure to ventilate by using bathroom or kitchen fans that exhaust outdoors or by opening nearby windows.

For more information about indoor air pollution and local resources visit http://www.epa.gov.