• The Air Inside: A special report on the toxic stew of gases, dust and mould in our homes. [Read more]
• Healthy Home: Formaldehyde – the biggest indoor offender.
• Have Kitchen, Will Travel – Our guide to travel with food allergies. [Read more]
• Allergy-Friendly Recipes: Lamb Stew with Dumplings, Turkey Meatloaf, Smoky Ham and Split Pea Soup, Stuffed Apples en croute and more.
• Celiac Disease: A gluten-free oasis in Vancouver.
• Ask the Allergists: vaccinations and egg allergy; the child who sneezes non-stop; coaching sports and asthma.
• Pet Allergies: The scoop on symptoms and coping strategies. [Read more]
• Allergy News: Food labels to show ‘hidden’ allergens [Read more]; Montreal’s peanut allergy rate soars [Read more]; B.C.’s new school framework [Read more]; Britain’s study of “to eat or not to eat”; and NHL arena halts peanut sales.
• Food Allergies: Seafood allergy, the adult affliction.
• Parting Shots: A mother shares her mastery of dairy-free, egg-free cakes.

BUY THIS ISSUE

Home Detox

• Buy unscented cleaning supplies without harsh chemicals. Or, make your own: for example, mix one part lemon juice with two parts vegetable oil to make a furniture polish; use baking soda and water for scouring bathtubs, sinks and toilets and wash your floors with vinegar and water.
• Stop using personal care products with fragrance, such as shampoos, soaps, deodorants and perfumes.
• Choose solid wood furniture and cabinets to avoid off-gassing. Or, if your furniture is made of pressed-wood, seal any exposed areas with a solvent-free paint or varnish. Virginia Salares, senior researcher at CMHC, stresses solid wood is especially important in the bedroom. “That is where you’re being nurtured, getting rested,” she says.
• When buying new carpet, ask for choices with low-chemical emissions, including the underpadding and adhesives. If possible, air carpets in a well-ventilated room before installation.
• Avoid chemicals for pest control. Instead, choose traps, baits or fly swatters.
• Don’t smoke in your home, and don’t allow anyone to smoke in your home.
• Ensure natural gas appliances, such as stoves and furnaces, and gas and wood-burning fireplaces are vented properly to the outdoors. Smoke from wood-burning fireplaces can be especially problematic for those with asthma, and should only used if needed as a heating source.

Ousting Allergens

• Moisture, especially problematic in kitchens, bathrooms and basements, can cause mould growth. Run your bathroom fan (ensure it’s vented to the outdoors) for 15 minutes after a shower, or open the window, says Salares. Use your kitchen exhaust fan when cooking. For the basement, relocate downspouts away from the foundation of your house, use a dehumidifier, and dispose of any water-damaged articles.
• Remove any carpet from bathrooms. The warm, humid environment is heaven for dust mites. Also, wash your bathmat regularly.
• Use a good-quality vacuum, with a HEPA filter and concentrate on areas where there may be a high concentration of allergens such as the front door, in front of a window, and beside the bed. Engage in what Toby Saville, chief microbiologist at Dyson vacuums, calls “intensive vacuuming,” that is, run the machine over these areas for two minutes to maximize dirt and dust removal. Don’t forget to vacuum the stairs and under the couch.
• Hardwood or laminate floors are a good alternative to carpet. However, it’s important to keep them clean, as dust mites can still live in the cracks of hardwood, and dust and pollen can build up on the surface.
• Cover your mattress and pillows with a dust-mite proof cover and avoid using an anti-fungal spray, “which just adds chemicals,” says Saville.
• Dust furniture, blinds, books and toys regularly with a damp cloth, to avoid recirculating dust.

Ventilate, Ventilate, Filter

• For the best air exchange, install a heat recovery ventilator. HRVs are designed to quickly exchange outdoor air (brought in through a filter) with stale indoor air. Heat is transferred from the indoor air to the outdoor air, for improved energy efficiency. (More on HRVs)
• While elimination of contaminants and proper ventilation are your main strategies, air filtration or purification can also help to improve indoor air quality. Be sure to choose a system with a HEPA filter, maintain it properly, and avoid air cleaners that produce ozone.

Sources: Virginia Salares, CMHC; Jay Kassirer, Healthy Indoors Partnership; Toby Saville, Dyson; “The Healthy Home Audit” ; “How to Reduce Chemical Contaminants in your Home” ; “Fighting Asthma in your House”; “A Buyer’s Guide to Home Air Filters”; The Canadian Lung Association

Originally published in Allergic Living magazine.
To order that issue or to subscribe, click here.
© Copyright AGW Publishing Inc.

As a kid, Michele Chase had severe asthma attacks, which her family put down to the polluted air in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto. But when, at the age of 10, she moved with her family to Fredericton, New Brunswick, a city with a population of only 50,000, Chase’s bouts of asthma surprisingly did not improve.

Her chest would become tight and she’d wheeze so hard she couldn’t catch a breath, despite a daily course of medication. Her family became acquainted with the local ER department.

But there was a difference in Fredericton: many of her asthma flareups started within the family home. For years, she couldn’t figure out the exact trigger. But Chase, now 28, today is certain she knows the spark for her childhood agony.

Asthma attacks triggered by home’s poor indoor air

Three years ago she helped her mother renovate the family home. As they were replacing the gyprock and paneling in the basement, they made an unsettling discovery. Thick, oozing black fungus had completely covered the back side of the gyprock and had permeated the insulation.

While they knew the basement was always damp, they had been completely unaware of the health hazard hidden behind the walls. Chase is thankful her bedroom was not in the basement, but notes, “if it’s in the home, it’s still in what you breathe.”

In Ottawa, Susan Clemens can relate. She watched with increasing distress as Angela,* her young daughter, suffered frightening asthma attacks between the years 2002 and 2004. The family was living in a “maisonette” with 12 apartments connected to a central hallway.

The building’s owners were busily renovating units, and every time a tenant moved out, they would resurface the floor in the vacated unit. Chemical fumes permeated the building, and the Clemens’ immediate neighbour was a smoker, so the family was also breathing in second-hand smoke.

Angela was not a wheezer, but during attacks the skin between the toddler’s ribs and collarbone would suck in as she struggled to breathe. Her lips would turn blue, and she’d break into a sweat. Angela was diagnosed with asthma at 12 months, but didn’t see a respirologist until she was 3.

He questioned Clemens and her husband about their lifestyle. When they explained about the apartment renovations, he immediately connected that to their daughter’s health. “That’s one of your big problems,” she recalls him saying. And then the life-changing words: “You have to move.”

How a home’s indoor air can cause allergies and asthma

Such instances are far from unique. While most North Americans still think of smog as the most serious form of air pollution, a more toxic chemical stew is often found in the air we breathe inside our homes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency labels indoor air one of the Top Five environmental health risks, up there with polluted drinking water.

The bad environment in our households starts with polluted air from the outdoors, which is often not cycled effectively in and out of tightly sealed and energy-efficient homes. Trapped, “the pollutant levels may be two to five times higher inside than outside, and in some cases, 100 times higher,” says Tom Kelly, director of the EPA’s Indoor Environments Division.

Then the homeowners mix in other chemicals: pesticides, perhaps cigarette smoke, air fresheners, hairspray, perfume and cleaning supplies. Thrown into the invisible concoction are the gases given off by furnishings or paint. Add animal dander, dust mites and mold – those ubiquitous biological allergy triggers – and suddenly there’s new meaning to the term “the fresh outdoors.”

Who is harmed by indoor air pollution?

Polluted indoor air “can be a very high risk for children, for elderly people, and for folks with diseases such as asthma,” says Kelly. In Canada, asthma is responsible for 10 per cent of all hospital admissions for children under the age of 4. The thought that our homes, our safe havens, can at times be to blame, is sobering.

To get a reading on just how bad household air is becoming a company that designs indoor air monitors, AirAdvice, worked with a network of heating, air conditioning, and air quality professionals to collect and analyze about 1.3 billion air samples from nearly 50,000 homes in the U.S. and Canada between 2004 and 2006.

Its survey showed 96.7 per cent of the homes generating an “alert”, that is, a level outside the recommended range for one of: particle allergens (dust, dander and pollen); chemical pollutants; carbon dioxide; temperature; humidity; and carbon monoxide. Eighty-three per cent of the homes had two or more alerts.

We spend up to 90 per cent of our time indoors, sealed tightly into our homes, trying to prevent costly energy loss and escape the chill of winter. But there’s a big looming cloud over the cozy picture. It’s inside air pollution.

The U.S. Environmental Agency labels indoor air one of the top five environmental health risks. Pollutants known as volatile organic compounds or VOCs are especially irritating to people with asthma or chemical sensitivities. And these gases are everywhere: they’re given off by new furniture, adhesives used in carpeting and cupboards, paint, drywall, a wide variety of personal-care products and dry cleaning.

But a whiff of good news on the home front: a study conducted by a University of Georgia team shows that at least five common houseplants cleanse the air of some nasty VOCs.

“I’m really excited,” said Dr. Stanley Kays, a professor in the department of horticulture and the lead author of the study. “I see a real potential positive health impact if we learn how to utilize plants to create a healthier environment,” he told Allergic Living.

The research team tested 28 common indoor plants for their ability to remove five toxic indoor pollutants: benzene (particularly found in drywall in Georgia), toluene, octane, trichloroethene (TCE) and alpha-pinene. “The VOCs tested in this study have a potential to seriously compromise the health of exposed individuals,” Kays said.

What floored him was the sheer volume of these compounds in the households. “When we started checking the air quality in some of the houses, it was shocking, unbelievable. We identified 179 VOCs in just two homes. It reiterated that we have a real problem here and most people have no idea about it.”

The Top 5

Of 28 plant species tested, five emerged as the best VOC eliminators.

• Purple Waffle Plant (Hemigraphis alternata) This attractive plant has puckered, slightly curled leaves that show off a red underside. It’s professor Stanley Kays personal favourite, a VOC-eliminating powerhouse.
• English Ivy (Hedera helix) The lush, fast-growing foliage makes for a nice hanging or climbing plant as ivy sucks up the UGA’s quintuplet of VOCs. Do keep out of reach of toddlers and pets, as the leaves are toxic if eaten.
• Variegated Wax Plant (Hoya carnosa) This tropical develops beautiful blooms in the summer, and its exquisite two-tone foliage inhales your household pollutants all year long.
• Asparagus Fern (Asparagus densiflorus) The plant’s abundant greenery scrubs toxins right out of the air. Meantime, the elegant spikes will perk up a room in the dead of winter. Don’t eat the berries, which can irritate the intestines; the plant can be toxic to pets.
• Purple Heart Plant (Tradescantia pallida) A favourite from the spiderwort family, this plant with its elongated, purple leaves out fills out to a full, beautiful hanging pot. Researchers rated it as superior for its ability to remove four of five VOCs – benzene, toluene, TCE and alpha-pinene.

On the Horizon

While this study is preliminary research, Kays is optimistic about being able to offer plant “prescriptions” in future. “I think we can really increase the health of people by the precise use of plants in interior spaces,” he says. A few pretty plants for much better breathing? Sounds like an idea that will blossom.

From the Winter 2010 issue of Allergic Living magazine.
To order that issue or to subscribe, click here.

© Copyright AGW Publishing Inc.