Numerous studies have raised concerns about the possible hazards of indoor air pollution. EPA considers it as among the worst environmental risks for our public health. In fact, places that we think the most secure could progressively degrade our health. There is also a possibility that indoor air pollution can be life-threatening. Researchers have identified many indoor substances that can ruin our health, such as carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, asbestos dust, radon and lead-based paint.
In fact, our indoor air can be a few times more hazardous than outdoor air. It is a believed that more than 10,000 deaths are contributed to indoor air pollution.
New houses can be more dangerous than old ones, because new paints and others things in them are still releasing substances to the indoor air. For this reason, we should make sure that we don’t use lead-based paint. Toddlers are curious individuals and they habitually put small things in their mouths. It means, they could eat paint chips or breathe in paint dust. This could put them at risk of lead contamination. The effect could be more serious because children are smaller and little amount of pollutants could already cause problems.
Continuous exposures can cause numerous developmental and behavioural problems. Lead may slowly accumulate in our liver and kidneys, causing progressive dysfunctions and eventually, failure. Other symptoms are purple lines on the gum, fatigue, joint pains, irritability and loss of appetite. This situation can be treated by taking EDTA, but it would be difficult if the metal has entered our bone.
Before buying a house, it is a good idea to check the wall with the XRF analyzer. It can give us an onsite reading and we could consider what to with the wall. The safest and easiest method is to cover the wall with safer paint, at least twice. It is dangerous to strip lead-based paint, because the dust will be inhaled and can attach to many objects inside the house.
Radon gas is the by-product of uranium decays and it can move through the soil under out house. In general, the gas will be diluted, especially if our location is reasonably windy. However, radon gas can accumulate inside the basement and reach a dangerous level. Radon gas produces two harmful isotopes, the Polonium 214 and Polonium 2018. Both can stick inside our lung cavities and slowly release alpha particles.
This will damage healthy lung cells and increase the possibility of cancer. Before choosing a house, we should perform radon tests. There are a number of methods we can choose, such as charcoal liquid scintillation bottles, continuous radon monitors, electrets-ion chambers and charcoal canisters.
If we find out that our current home is has high radon level, we should vent the gas away and seal the foundation. It can be as easy as installing a pipe and fan under our house. But it may be necessary to pour concrete under our house. Asbestos is another risk factor and it should be easy to handle. We can replace roof and insulation that contain asbestos.
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