Tag: Air Pollution

Smells clean…but it may be harmful!

by Maria Restrepoin More news

Our quest for cleaner and cleaner living environments with no traces of bacteria leads us to use cleaning products advertised as effectively eliminating 99% of bacteria especially in our kitchens and bathrooms. Cleaning products have been progressively improved with fragrances that we associate with cleanliness but are we being fooled!?

Many of these aromas are created through the use of enzymes that are known to be allergens. The smell that we associate with cleanliness is often the evidence that there are volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the product which give off different types of gasses. Fragrances and many other product features are created through the use of chemicals that are often harmful to our health and environment. Moth repellents, air freshners, aerosol sprays, degreasers, dry cleaning fluids and cleaning products / detergents are all toxic if ingested, but can also enter our body through touch and smell.

How our cleaning products may affect us will depend on many factors including how long we are exposed to it, the level of exposure and the nature of the VOC or chemical in use. In addition, we must not forget that many of these products are not eliminated by the body and just keep accumulating until a problem arises. Many of their ingredients fall into three harmful categories: carcinogens which may cause or promote cancer’s growth; endocrine disruptors which mimic hormones and affect reproduction, development, growth and behaviour; and neurotoxins which affect brain activity.

TYPE of chemicals that are harmful:
  • Pesticides: cleaning products are not seen as pesticides but they are. They are carcinogens and endocrine disruptors that are difficult to eliminate from the body once ingested.
  • APEs: help cleaning solutions easily spread in a surface and known to be endocrine disruptors.
  • Organoclorides: endocrine disruptors.
  • Phtalates: endocrine disruptors, possible carcinogens and are currently not required to be disclosed as ingredients.
Common chemicals in cleaning products:
  • Perchloroethylene, a known carcinogen, is used in dry cleaning agents and degreasers.
  • Styrene is an endochrine disruptor, used in floor waxing products.
  • Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen, used in household antiseptics, medicines, dishwashing liquids, fabric softeners and carpet cleaners.
  • Benzene also carcinogenic is used in detergent and furniture wax.

Without a doubt, those most at risk are children, followed by elderly, asthmatics and those persons with compromised immune systems. We tend to believe that if we ensure these products are out of children’s reach they are safe. However, we seldom think that children are exposed to the ill effects of these products through touch and smell. They crawl on the ground, lick their fingers and as a result have greater contact with surfaces cleaned with these products than Adults. Moreover, any exposure they have has a larger effect in their body because of the ratio between exposure and body size, as well as the fact that their immune system is in a developmental phase.

Surprisingly in many countries, household cleaners are not required to list all their ingredients. This makes it more difficult for consumers to know more about the potential risk.

USEFUL LINKS:

www.nlm.nih.gov/toxnet/index.html


www.ewg.org


www.healthychild.org


www.greencleancertified.com


www.greenseal.org

Sources:

EPA – Volatile Organic Compounds’ Impact on Indoor Air Quality

The Guardian – Enzymes used in cleaning products and food ‘are potent allergens’, warns study

Healthy TIPS: With a little help from Vitamin B

by Maria Restrepoin Featured

In a previous blog-post we talked about protecting our health from within and stressed the need to consume vitamin C, E, Beta-carotene and Omega3 which boosts our body’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacity. Research published in the Pharmaceutical Journal is now including Vitamin B in the realm of our must-have nutrients to fight health consequences from air pollution.

Vitamin B essentials

Our bodies need Vitamin B for producing energy through food, growth and cell division, as well as for the proper functioning of the nervous system, arteries, heart and brain. These vitamins can be found in foods such as meats, whole grains, vegetables and nuts – and especially in chickpeas, beef liver, yellowfin tuna, salmon, chicken breast, potatoes and bananas. We need to maintain a good intake of these foods at the same time as facilitating its absorption by decreasing alcohol, coffee and tea consumption. The vitamin B group includes a range of vitamins but the most essential are B12, B6 and Folic acid

Vitamin B and air pollution

Studies had first found that persons with low vitamin B6 and B12 were particularly susceptible to the adverse health effects of air pollution. Now, scientists from the Mailman School of Public Health from Columbia University looked at the possible effect of vitamin B in minimising DNA damage. The study sample size is very small but it is being conducted on people and compares DNA changes in people exposed to PM2.5 against those who were not exposed. And then compares the protective effect of Vitamin B6, B12 and Folic acid (B9).

Dr Jia Zhong from Harvard School of Public Health led the study and found that although the results from such a small sample cannot be conclusive, they do show DNA damage from exposure to PM2.5 and a protective effect from Vitamin B even when the individual is exposed to PM2.5. The sample was small and the vitamin dose used was very high, but the relevance of this finding is that more research can be done to further to understand the correct dosage and if this effect is also experienced among people who are under chronic exposure to air pollution.

As a preventive measure we can make sure we have good vitamin B intake to help our bodies protect us from air pollution

Sources:
Mayo Clinic – Vitamin B6
Live Sciences – Sources and Benefits
PNAS – B vitamins attenuate the epigenetic effects of ambient fine particles in a pilot human intervention trial
The Pharmaceutical Journal – Vitamin B may help reduce impact of air pollution on health

School’s Indoor Air Quality

by Maria Restrepoin Featured

How often do we think about the air quality in our children’s school, where they spend almost a third of their day?

In cities with poor outdoor air quality, schools usually limit outdoor physical education and break time according to local outdoor air quality readings. But what about the quality of the indoor air?

Let’s think about it for a moment!

Studies have shown that poor air quality in schools increase absenteeism, decrease test scores and compromise staff and student productivity.

When we think of academic excellence we’ll seldom think of structural and maintenance practices that can provide the optimal environment for teachers and students to thrive. Nonetheless, leaky roofs, poor heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems (HVAC), inappropriate use of cleaning products among others can make a difference in academic excellence.

In fact, poor indoor air quality can cause asthma, respiratory infections and allergic diseases which start a spiral of effects from school absenteeism to poor performance.

What is the impact of indoor air quality in schools?

Asthma, respiratory infections and allergic diseases are commonly caused or exacerbated by moisture in HVAC system, microbiological pollutants, animal allergens, nitrogen dioxide or other combustion byproducts, chemicals in cleaning products, low ventilation, formaldehyde, dampness, mold, outdoor pollutants or vehicle exhaust.

Asthma for example is suffered by millions across the world – approximately 1 in every 10 children!  And it is the main reason students skip school in the US. Asthma can be controlled with medications after it occurs but a great deal can be done before it occurs by controlling the environmental triggers, especially in closed environments like schools.

For optimal indoor air quality in schools, we need to:

Sources:
US EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) – Printable Version of the Coordinator’s Guide for Indoor Air Quality
US EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) – Indoor Air Quality in High Performance Schools
US EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) – Managing Asthma in the School Environment

Indoor and outdoor air pollution: a silent threat

by Maria Restrepoin More news

The World Health Organisation estimates that 3.7 million deaths are the result of outdoor air pollution, and 4.3 million deaths are attributable to indoor air pollution. Sadly, our region (Western Pacific) has the highest number of casualties due to air pollution.

Air pollution control is not entirely in the hands of individuals, but controlling exposure to air pollution is.

Follow these WHO links for additional information:

When legal action meets air quality

by Maria Restrepoin More news

A few years ago, a French woman launched a law suit against the French government for failing to protect her from air pollution. More precisely, for ‘culpable incompetence’ by not having a heavy hand against polluters and not taking strong preventive measures. She is asthmatic, 56 years old and a yoga teacher that suffers gravely from every air pollution spike. She is the first plaintiff in France but her lawyer says there are about 30 more in Paris, Lille and Lyon who are planning legal action!

Are law suits the new way to push for better air quality?

In fact, we know of several examples in Europe where legal action is being used to push governments for better air quality. In April 2015, the UK legal NGO ClientEarth won a Supreme Court ruling against the UK government. The ministers were ordered to design a plan to ‘bring pollution down within legal limits as soon as possible’.  The new plan was presented in 2016 but the government was slammed once more by another legal battle won by ClientEarth at the High Court.

“The government’s new plans to tackle air pollution are woefully inadequate and won’t achieve legal limits for years to come,” said ClientEarth lawyer Alan Andrews to The Guardian “The longer they are allowed to dither and delay, the more people will suffer from serious illness or an early death.”

“There is clear consensus that the government’s plans are wholly inadequate to address this public health crisis,” said Kerry McCarthy, Labour’s shadow environment secretary. “It should not take legal action to force the environment secretary to take urgent action and help save lives.”

In September 2016 in Prague, the Vlasta Coalition NGO lodged a law suit against the local ministry’s plan to tackle air pollution. Three individuals have joined the law suit from various parts of the country with their claims. Similarly, The European Commission threatened legal action against France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK for failing to protect their citizens from air pollution. ClientEarth is in fact partnering with local NGOs to launch cases across Europe against local and national governments. The first one to appear is legal action against Lombardy – a region in the north of Italy with Milan in the Centre of it.

More data on air pollution and more knowledge about its ill health effects will provide the basis for citizens to demand their rights and for governments to better understand how to manage policies to improve air quality.

The Power of Plants: Cleaning Your Indoor Air Environment

by Maria Restrepoin More news

September is here and, in many parts of Asia this month marks the beginning of high pollution days. Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New Delhi and other cities may experience in the next months higher levels of pollution than during the summer. But no need to panic because there is a lot we can do to improve the air quality inside our homes and keep the indoor pollution at a minimum.

We are usually concerned about the outdoor air pollution, but know little about the air quality in our homes or offices, where we spend most of our time. In fact, modern furnishings, paints, synthetic building materials, cleaning  and cooking materials all off-gass unwanted chemicals that pollute the indoor air and create health problems for us. Those pollutants are commonly benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene, but we can also find airborne biological pollutants, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, pesticides, disinfectants (phenols), and even radon. Our sensitivity to these gases ranges, but they have initial health effects that limit productivity like headaches, nausea, irritation of eyes throat, or nose; allergies, coughing, dry or itchy skin and inability to focus. Prolonged exposure can cause more severe effects.

Today we want to showcase the benefits of certain plants in helping control your indoor air pollution. During the 1980’s NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America researched how plants could clean the air in space stations. The results showed that plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, some plants even filter volatile organic compounds such as formaldehyde, xylene, benzene, chloroform and trichloroethylene. This study is the base for many other more recent studies in this subject.

In Asia, Kamal Meattle is an incredible advocate for the use of plants to clean your indoor air. He agrees that plants alone will not do the work because of the high quantity required (between 6-8 per person per room), nonetheless only one plant per 100 sq feet will already help substantially.

“There are three easy-to-maintain plants that we use for natural air purification. They are the areca palm, mother-in-law’s tongue and money plant. The areca palm and money plant produce oxygen during the daytime while mother-in-law’s tongue produces oxygen during nighttime. These three common houseplants remove chemical toxins from the indoor air, reduce CO2 levels and enrich it with more oxygen. By keeping these plants, we ensure that there is a constant supply of oxygen in the air.”

Kamal Meattle

Among the 50 plants recommended by researcher Bill Wolverton, who participated in the NASA study, the most common and powerful plants at cleaning the air are:

Areca Palm (Areca lutescens), Mother- in- Law’s Tongue (Sansevieria), Madagascar Dragon Tree (Dracaena Marginata), Bamboo palm (Chamaedorea seifrizii), Corn Plant (Dracaena fragrans), Rubber tree (Ficus elastica), Golden Pothos (Scindapsus aureau, Boston fern (Nephrolepis), Goosefoot Plan (Syngonium podophyllum), Peace lily (Spathiphyllum).

In addition to improving your air quality, plants reduce fatigue and stress, increase productivity, improve the mood, enhance concentration and help with memory. You only need to be more careful if you have pets, because some of these plants may be harmful for them.

 

Recommended book:

Wolverton, Bill: How To Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home Or Office: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home or Office.

Recommended TED talk:

Is Air Pollution Changing our Gut Microbiota?

by Maria Restrepoin Featured

It may seem a far cry, but scientists have been studying the effects of particulate matter (PM) in our intestines, gut microbiota (previously referred to as gut flora) and its relation to the sharp increase of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD). There is not an overwhelming amount of research, but certainly for more than a decade institutes in several countries have researched the possible link between exposure to air pollutants and various parts of our digestive system.

These studies show why being careful about what we eat and drink can take us a long way in protecting our gut microbiota from air pollution. In fact, hereditary genes may explain only a fraction of the IBD and scientists have in the past two decades seen that environmental factors are important contributors to these diseases.

But how does PM reach our bowel/intestines?

Well, researchers have observed that there are two primary ways: first the lungs clear part of air pollutants through a process called ‘mucocialiary clearance’ towards the intestines; and second we ingest it through our water and food.

And what is the effect of PM in our bowel?

Scientists in this field suggest that air pollutants cause systemic inflammation and change of the intestinal microbiota. Research has shown correlation between air pollution and IBD but scientists call for caution in the interpretation of these results due to methodological weaknesses and suggest more research should be done. However,

“If this connection is found to be true, this could have important implications for public health since intestinal diseases are relatively common and cause significant morbidity and mortality in addition to their economic impacts. Understanding how pollution contributes to intestinal disease will identify potential interventions or help advocate for patients by reducing exposures to dangerous materials.” say Leigh A. Beamish, Alvaro R. Osornio-Vargas and Eytan Wine in their 2011 publication in the Journal of Crohns and Colitis.

More recently (2015), scientists from Canada published an article on how microbiota can be modified by air pollution and last moth a group of researchers also published an article on PM and its effect on gut microbiota and the link to cholesterol. Overall, there is increasing knowledge of the importance of maintaining a healthy gut microbiota as a protection against diabetes, obesity, metabolic disorders and IBD. Scientists have shown that air pollution affects both the composition and the function of microbiota. They concluded:

“Together, our study in IL-10−/− mice, in conjunction with previous experimental and epidemiological observations, strongly suggests that ingested particulate matter could trigger and accelerate the development of gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases” Salim, Kaplan and Madsen from the University of Alberta and Calgary.

As individuals, let’s start now to protect ourselves. We can eat organic, we can have a specific vegetable and fruit cleansing routine, we can filter our water. Let’s start minimizing our ingested air pollution to take care of our gut microbiota!

Sources:

NIH – Air pollution effects on the gut microbiota: a link between exposure and inflammatory disease

Nature – Ambient Ultrafine Particle Ingestion Alters Gut Microbiota in Association with Increased Atherogenic Lipid Metabolites

Trying to sleep but you cannot?

by Maria Restrepoin Featured

Sleep is not the first thought we have when thinking about the effects of air pollution.

A study conducted by Dr. Martha E. Billings, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington was presented in May at the American Thoracic Society International Conference. The study shows that air pollution affects sleep quality.

“Prior studies have shown that air pollution impacts heart health and affects breathing and lung function, but less is known about whether air pollution affects sleep,” said lead author Martha E. Billings “We thought an effect was likely given that air pollution causes upper airway irritation, swelling and congestion, and may also affect the central nervous system and brain areas that control breathing patterns and sleep.”

The study conducted showed that both PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide are linked with poor sleep quality. The higher PM2.5 concentration leads to 50% odds of having poor sleep. Similarly, high levels of nitrogen dioxide increased by 60% the chances of experiencing poor sleep. 

Exactly why, is yet to be studied, but air pollution irritates nose, sinuses and back of throat which affects breathing and ultimately may have an impact on sleep quality. Also, air pollutants can enter the blood and can potentially have an effect on the brain and its breathing regulation capacities, therefore disrupting sleep.

“These new findings indicate the possibility that commonly experienced levels of air pollution not only affect heart and lung disease, but also sleep quality. Improving air quality may be one way to enhance sleep health and perhaps reduce health disparities,” Dr. Billings said

Sleep problems are common everywhere and on the increase. The use of multiple aids to sleep is increasing. This study shows how important it is to look at our environment, know the quality of our indoor and outdoor air and take measures to improve it. Improving air quality in our indoor space may go a long way in helping us having better sleep quality!

Monitor air quality!

Sources:
Neuroscience News
AMERICAN THORACIC SOCIETY – Air Pollution May Disrupt Sleep
Newsweek – Trouble Sleeping? Air Pollution May Be to Blame, Study Says
The Guardian – Air pollution linked to poor sleep, study finds