Toxic Air Pollutants: A Toxic Mixture of Unhealthy Indoor Air

The air that most people breathe in their homes and places of work is full of toxic air pollutants. This is a major concern since most people spend up to 90 % of life indoors. The air quality in a typically home has been tested to be as much as five times more polluted that outdoor air. It is even worse in newly constructed homes. The use of all the latest non-green technologies and the way homes are constructed are the leading cause of indoor air toxicity.

In the past few years the latest trend is to have the home as air tight as possible, to make the home energy efficient. This results in the lack of the home’s ability to breathe and the accumulation of toxic air pollutants. Homes need to breathe just like you do, except they need to breathe to exchange toxic air for good air.

Due to this energy efficiency wave many more toxic air pollutants are now trapped inside homes and include: cigarette smoke, fumes from gas ovens and stoves, wood burning fire places and stoves. Other toxic air causing items in the home are cleaning agents, aerosols, air fresheners, and disinfectants. These last ones are there because we are more efficient in keeping our homes clean and disinfected to control germs; plus we want our homes to smell better.

The types of toxic air pollutants that are contained in home cleaners include: cellosolve an irritant; nerotoxic that may cause liver and kidney disease; carcinogenic chemicals that cause cancer; crystalline silica which is an eye and lung irritant, along with being carcinogenic; and paradichlorobenzine which is toxic to kidneys and liver, along with being a cancer causing carcinogenic.

Other toxic air pollutants contained in the indoor air you breathe include volatile organic compounds. These compounds are contained in many everyday products used in the construction materials of your home or you bring in your home. These products include paint, paint thinners, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, glues, adhesives, and permanent markers. Additional products that contain organic compounds include cosmetics, degreasing compounds, hobby products, disinfectants, and any fuels that you may use for heating foods.

Even though asbestos is not permitted in building products today; many older homes still have asbestos in them. Because of the high cost of removing asbestos, most of the time asbestos is just left in place. As long it is left undisturbed it is safe. So if you have asbestos in your home do not try to remove it or disturb it.

Humans themselves emit a toxic air pollutant. We emit Carbon Dioxide (CO2), which is transmitted into the air every time you exhale. High levels CO2 are indicative of everyone in the home having frequent headaches and being drowsy all the time.

As you can see there are many everyday products which are brought into the home on a daily basis. This raises the level of toxic air pollutants in your home to a level which causes the air to become unhealthy.