Indoor Air Quality Also A Reason Of Early Deaths

Indoor air pollution is a growing concern that has largely been neglected, despite the fact that it may cause almost as many deaths globally as outdoor air pollution. Most people in industrialized countries spend 80-90% of their time indoors, making it important to understand the sources and levels of pollutants that accumulate in homes, offices, and public buildings.

Need Of A Standard Practice in Public Spaces

England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, is calling for indoor air quality to be monitored in public spaces, such as offices, schools, supermarkets, and hospitals. He believes that the lack of research on indoor air pollution makes it difficult for governments to target policies and controls, and for building owners to understand the health risks and how to reduce them.

Urgent Investment in Indoor Emission Inventories

In a recent article published in the journal Nature, the researchers have asked for a scientific push to understand indoor air pollution and produce a “roadmap to cleaner indoor air.” They argue that monitoring the indoor environment for pollution should become standard practice in public spaces and that indoor emission inventories need urgent investment.

Sources of Indoor Air Pollution

In buildings, air can be contaminated with:

• Fine particles from wood burners and cooking
• Noxious gases
• Cancer-causing chemicals
• Pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and molds, of which contribute to health problems.

The risks are constantly shifting, and having sick people reporting to work or constantly getting sick with allergies is another sign of the presence of such bacteria. Although some pollutants, such as coal burning and nitrogen oxides from gas, have fallen in recent years, others, such as volatile organic compounds from cosmetics and personal care products and particulates from wood burners, have risen. Other concerns include formaldehyde from building materials, brominated fire retardants in furniture, and radon from the bedrock beneath buildings.

Variations in Indoor Air Quality

One of the major challenges in understanding indoor air pollution is the enormous variability in air quality due to differences in how buildings are built, ventilated, operated, and occupied. According to Whitty, levels of volatile organic compounds can differ by a factor of 1,000 in identical houses on the same street, simply because people inside behave differently.

How To Improve Indoor Air Quality

Alastair Lewis suggests that people can take immediate action to improve indoor air quality, such as ensuring reasonable ventilation levels in their homes. However, many people cannot afford to upgrade their homes or have no options to change the air quality in rented homes or flats.

Dr Gary Fuller, an air pollution scientist at Imperial College London, argues that more must be done to tackle pollution at the source. He believes that manufacturers of products used in homes should accept responsibility for the air pollution they create and work to reduce it, as ventilation systems alone cannot control indoor air pollution.

Verdict