Alarm Bells Sound Over The Air Quality Inside Your Home.

Wake up. Smell the coffee. Take a deep breath. Hear the smog advisory. Cringe.

As you contemplate ways to avoid taking deep breaths outdoors, you may be disturbed to learn that the air inside your home could be 100 times more polluted than outdoor air.

“Studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times, and occasionally 100 times, higher than outdoor levels,” according to A Guide to Indoor Air Quality, published by the U.S.-based Environmental Protection Agency.

The Asthma Society of Canada calls poor indoor air quality a trigger for asthma, a condition which is hitting a higher number of Canadians each and every year. The society’s statistics claim that three million Canadians currently suffer from the condition. In fact, according to the society, asthma claims the lives of 10 people in this country weekly.

The situation is of such concern, that in April of this year Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq announced that the Government of Canada is investing in 13 projects to help improve the lung health of at-risk Canadians, as well as to educate school children about asthma awareness. The $1.8-million investment is part of the $10-million Lung Health Program announced by the federal government in April of 2009.

“This investment clearly demonstrates the federal government’s commitment to improving Canada’s lung health by addressing important respiratory health issues,” said Aglukkaq. One of the aims of the Lung Health Program is to reduce the risks from indoor air.

The quality of your indoor air is such a concern that many renowned medical organizations are also sounding its alarms. Of particular concern is the impact of poor indoor air quality on small bodies.

“Children are not simply little adults,” says Philip Landrigan, program director for the Children’s Environmental Health Centre at Mount Sinai Medical Centre in New York. “They are uniquely vulnerable to toxic exposures in the environment. Exposures in early life can affect human health over the entire life span. We need to find definitive answers about the relationship between toxic chemicals and health so we can protect our children now and in the future.”

According to the centre’s ongoing studies, western societies are exposed to thousands of substances in the environment, most of which have never been tested for toxicity to children. However, there is growing evidence that exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment contributes to many diseases including asthma, learning disabilities, birth defects and childhood cancer, the centre reports.

Of great concern is the fact that more than 80,000 new chemical compounds have been developed since World War II. About 3,000 of them are produced in high volume, although fewer than 20% of these chemicals have been tested for their toxicity in children. However 75% of the top 20 chemicals discharged into the environment are known or suspected to be toxic to the developing brain.

Compounding the problem is that we are building homes tighter than ever before in attempts to be energy efficient, says Don Fugler, senior researcher with Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC).

He says that there are many mechanical ventilation devices and air filters on the market today, which can help improve your indoor air quality. However, he adds, the most important steps homeowners can take should be to make simple lifestyle changes to decrease the level of humidity in the home, increase ventilation and reduce the sources of toxic fumes and airborne particulates.

For the Top 10 Ways to Achieve Better Indoor Air Quality, refer to the article on this web site entitled “10 easy steps to better indoor air quality.”