Indoor air quality is important because it impacts your health. Mold, bacteria and other contaminants can make it difficult for people to breath, particularly if the person has asthma. It is important to have a clean atmosphere, so you do not developing breathing problems. Filtering and cleaning with a professional can make it easier to breathe.
Pollution can impact people with asthma. Attacks can be triggered by dust, smoke, chemical fumes, and strong detergent smells. The allergens that cause people to have an attack may be prevalent inside homes, schools, and businesses. In addition to mold and bacteria, these allergens may include pollen, and pet dander. When these allergens become airborne, people who are sensitive to them may have difficulty breathing or have an attack.
Even people who do not have asthma can benefit from a clean atmosphere. Many people have allergies and may begin sneezing or coughing due to the pollutants inside. They may also experience skin problems that are the result of a dirty environment. You may notice that your skin feels itchy or your eyes may hurt. You may also develop headaches if the atmosphere is not clean. The symptoms may seem to appear out of nowhere and be so subtle that you may be tempted to ignore them. It’s important, however, that you do not ignore signs that you body sends you in alert to a problem.
Molds can end up in the environment due to moisture from plumbing or poor ventilation. When there is a leak and the wet drywall is unable to dry within a day, mold is likely to grow and you are likely to breathe the spores. This invisible activity can prove to be toxic, especially to people with asthma and other breathing problems.
In older homes, there is the danger of breathing the fibers from asbestos, especially if the area containing the asbestos is disturbed while you are remodeling. The ceiling and floors in your home could expose you to asbestos, which has been found to cause lung cancer. The risk is even greater if you smoke.
If you constantly feel sleepy while you are inside your home or business, you may consider having a specialist check the carbon dioxide levels in the building. When the levels are high, you may feel lethargic or get headaches. A specialist can tell if your home is not getting proper ventilation, causing a rise in carbon dioxide level.
Indoor air quality is just as important as the outdoors. Most people spend most of their lives inside, so you want to make sure that you are not inhaling pollution that could harm your body. Some signs of pollution or poor indoor air quality, like asthma or breathing problems are directly linked to what you breathe, but other problems, like skin problems can surface over time, and appear seemingly out of nowhere. So, the next time that you develop a strange rash, start itching, or you find yourself feeling sleepy for no reason, think about having your home’s indoor air quality checked by a professional. You may be surprised at the results.
Posts tagged ‘Breathe’
Japan’s nuclear disaster is a factor that we must protect ourselves against; from nuclear fallout. The Ground Zero workers suffered from life-long lung conditions as a result of inward leakage between face and respirator. Breathe Safely offers a solution to the disastrous problems caused by respirator failure.
Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA – When using a respirator to protect individuals, including from Japan’s Nuclear Fallout, the seal between face and respirator (inward leakage) is most important. Inward leakage allows raw hazardous particle that can not be removed from entering directly into the lungs. All respirators without an adhesive seal to the face has an inward leakage problem, as seen with the 9/11 Ground Zero.
First responders and clean-up crews at Ground Zero have suffered life long health ailments. Some have been diagnosed with severely diminished lung capacity. 35,980 people filed for worker’s compensation from the World Trade Center incident.
Congress passed a $4.2 billion bill to pay for health care and compensation of the clean up crews, first responders, and respirator trained workers. A $657.5 million dollar lawsuit settlement was reached for 10,000 of the first responders and these same people.
As the federal lawsuits for 9/11 clean-up staff continues to grow, fingers continue to point, placing the blame on anyone who was calling the shots that day.
Many of the first responders wore respirators. The law suit comes to life because of the failure of respirators. The problem was due to the fact that the respirator’s worn did not have an air tight seal to the emergency worker’s faces.
The first responders at Ground Zero were trained and tested to use the respirators properly. Due to the fact that the airflow went around the respirator medium, the debris and dust reached the lungs of the workers instead of being filtered through the respirator (inward leakage). For more on inward leakage see the two citation sources below.
A recent study from the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene entitled, “Performance of an N95 Filtering Face-piece Particulate Respirator and a Surgical Mask During Human Breathing: Two Pathways for Particle Penetration” The study shows out of 75 participants wearing respirators and surgical masks, the leakage through the contact surface of the respirator to the face was an average of 5% with N95 respirators (best fit, fit test failures). Surgical masks shows an average rate of 40% leakage (best fit, fit test) and leakage appears no matter what size the particle is.
The study shows the compromises existing through a faulty facial seal, not the face-mask or respirator medium. A medical grade adhesive seal; Breathe Safely™ , already exists, this would have made the extent of lung damage substantially less. This technology seals a respirator to the users face, it uses a medical grade adhesive seal so that respirators and masks do not leak inward or outward at the face. After comprehensive testing of Breathe Safely™ seals, test participants felt 100% safer and 70% more comfortable wearing the seal.
Penetration of fatal pollutants and viruses take place around the edge of the respirator, mask, or personal protection equipment (PPE). This is tested and published by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention and a 2011 publication entitled, “Preventing Transmission of Pandemic Influenza and Other Viral Respiratory Disease” issued by the Institute of Medicine.
The U.S. Government (tax payers) will continue paying law suits and medicare as the first responders, emergency workers, and daily respirator users health conditions progressively decline with age, as they did with asbestos.
During the next viral pandemic (like H1N1, but worse) is the same fate to doctors, nurses, hospital workers and emergency workers bound to happen, says the World Health Organization. As stated in the publication, “Preventing Transmission of Pandemic Influenza and Other Viral Respiratory Diseases: Personal Protective Equipment for Healthcare Workers Update 2010,” Page: 5-6; the respirator face-seal leakage is much greater than the filtration material on the respirator. Page: 79; 20 volunteers tested with five different face masks, all failed fit testing. Page 80; 6,160 trained health workers tested and 17% failed fit testing. With the Breathe Safely seal the full capabilities of the respirator will finally be realized.
Citations: Grinshpun, Sergey A., Haruta, Hiroki, Eninger, Robert M., Reponen, Tiina, McKay, Roy T. and Lee, ShuAn(2009) ‘Performance of an N95 Filtering Facepiece Particulate Respirator and a Surgical Mask During Human Breathing: Two Pathways for Particle Penetration’,Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene,6:10,593 – 60 IOM (Institute of Medicine). 2011. ‘Preventing Transmission of Pandemic Influenza and other Viral Respiratory Diseases: Personal Protective Equipment for Healthcare Personnel’-update 2010. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
