Indoor air quality (IAQ) isn’t really a popular topic of discussion around most dinner tables. In fact, we’re pretty sure that many people still don’t realize the impact that IAQ has on health, productivity, education and more. Perhaps if people knew more about it and the impact it may have on their families and friends, they could join the discussion about how to breathe cleaner, healthier air. People spend 90 percent of their time inside – homes, offices, schools, planes, trains and automobiles – but the damaging effects of bad air can be life-threatening. What can you do if you suspect your office has poor indoor air quality? How does poor air quality affect your child at school? What if you live in an apartment? What causes indoor air problems in the first place? Chances are you have a few questions about how IAQ is affecting you personally. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), thoughtful people that they are, has a regularly updated page on their website called The Inside Story: A Guide to Indoor Air Quality. It’s chock-full of useful information that can help you answer any IAQ questions you have. Here’s a highlight from the e-booklet about indoor air and your health:

“Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later. Immediate effects may show up after a single exposure or repeated exposures. These include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Such immediate effects are usually short-term and treatable. Sometimes the treatment is simply eliminating the person’s exposure to the source of the pollution, if it can be identified. Symptoms of some diseases, including asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and humidifier fever, may also show up soon after exposure to some indoor air pollutants….Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after long or repeated periods of exposure. These effects, which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal. It is prudent to try to improve the indoor air quality in your home even if symptoms are not noticeable….”

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