Mom: Comment vas-tu Sandra ?
Sandra: Je vais jouer au football avec mes copains.
Mom: Mais la qualité de l’air est mauvaise aujourd’hui.
Sandra: On ne peut rien y faire. Ça vient des vents et du périphérique. Ça sera mieux dans quelques jours!
Mom: Oui, on ne peut rien faire pour l’extérieur, mais on peut éviter de sortir quand c’est très mauvais. On passe plus de 80% de notre temps à l’intérieur. Faisons en sorte que c’est bon pendant ce temps.
Sandra: Cette pollution extérieure peut rentrer quand on ouvre les fenêtres…
Mom: En effet, les moniteurs nous aident à savoir quand mettre en route les purificateurs pour filtrer ces particules.
Sandra: Ok, après tout, il s’agit de réduire les risques, pas de chercher le risque zéro.
Mom: Hey Joe, where are you going?
Joe: I am going to play football with buddies.
Mom: But Air Quality is shown RED, today in town.
Joe: We can’t do anything right? It is brought by the nearby bushfire. It will be better next week!
Mom: Of course, we can’t solve the problem. But we can avoid being outside when it’s very bad. Anyway, we spend 80% of our time indoors. Let’s make sure indoor is safe.
Joe: Those pollutants could sneak in when we open windows or doors…
Mom: True, we could also have some air quality monitors to know how the effect is and turn on the purifiers at peak hours to remove excessive particles!
Joe: Correct, still there are things to do to minimize the risk! After, it’s about reducing risk, not zero-risk.
Dad: Philippe, peux-tu me passer le rouleau de peinture stp ?
Philip: Oui papa, tu repeins l’entrée ? Ça sent fort !
Dad: Oui, c’est plein de produits chimiques. Porte un masque pour éviter de trop en absorber.
Philip: Est-ce que les masques achetés pendant le Covid conviennent ?
Dad: Je pense que oui. C’est écrit N95, BFE ou PFE >99%… On sent beaucoup moins la peinture quand on les porte.
Philip: Les masques utilisés lors du Covid filtrent les particules type PM10, pas les émanations de peintures, appelées COV. Il nous faut des masques absorbant les gaz, non ?
Dad: Tu as raison ! Je vais en acheter de ce pas. Viens avec moi.
Dad: Philip come over, bring me the brush please.
Philip: Oh Dad, are you repainting the wall? That’s a strong smell!
Dad: Yes, the paint is full of chemicals. Put on a mask. That one was purchased for covid.
Philip: Can this mask protect us from chemicals?
Dad: I think so! It is written N95, BFE and PFE >99%… This should work and I feel less smell after putting it on!
Philip: Masks used for covid usually filter particles like PM10. VOCs from paints are gases. We need the ones with activated charcoal to absorb the VOCs and keep us safe.
Dad: Got it! I am going to get some! Wait for me to come back!!
Paul: Bonjour Marc, ça fait un bail! Tu t’es mis au vert ?
Marc: Salut Paul, oui. J’ai déménagé il y a bientôt 1 an !
Chris: Super, l’air doit y être sain. La semaine dernière, la tempête de sable du Sahara nous a tout recouvert de poudre jaune.
Roger: Oui j’ai vu ça… D’ailleurs les forêts alentours n’arrêtent pas de nombreux polluants. On a vu du jaune ici aussi.
Chris: Sérieux ? Même avec toutes ces forêts autour ?
Roger: Bien sûr, c’est mieux qu’en ville. Mais ça n’est pas le remède miracle. Les vents ne s’arrêtent pas aux frontières des départements …
Chris: Donc mieux, mais pas époustouflant..
Roger: Exactement. Mieux qu’en ville, mais beaucoup de pollution est crée en intérieur par nos habitudes, les produits de nettoyage, le mobilier …
Chris: Hi Roger, long time no see! I heard you moved to the countryside.
Roger: Hey Chris, that’s right. I moved there almost one year ago!!
Chris: Great, you must be enjoying clean and fresh air over there. Last week, we got a sandstorm. The air was yellowish, covering everything with a yellow sand powder.
Roger: Yea I saw that… Don’t be misled. The surrounding greens of the countryside do not stop the winds carrying dirt. We also got some yellow particles covering everything around.
Chris: Ouch! Even with plenty of greens and nearby forest?
Roger: Of course, it is better than in town. But expectations shouldn’t be too high as winds have no frontiers.
Chris: So it’s better but not radically different.
Roger: Correct. It is better than in town, but a lot of pollution is also generated indoors from our behavior, with all our cleaning products, furniture…
Kid: Papa, les vaccins utilisent les des virus fatigués pour que le corps s’y prépare, n’est-ce pas ? Peut-on faire de même pour la pollution de l’air ?
Dad: Ça fonctionne bien pour les virus ou les bactéries. Pas pour la pollution.
Kid: Quelle est la différence ?
Dad: Les polluants dans l’air sont des toxines qui fragilisent nos défenses immunitaires. Mais ça ne modifie pas nos cellules.
Kid: Je ne comprends pas.
Dad: Plus tu restes dans un endroit pollué, plus ton corps accumule ces toxines. Cela conduit à des maladies graves.
Kid: Ouille ! Il faut éviter ces polluants.
Dad: Et des actions simples peuvent grandement nous aider à nous en protéger. Par exemple, ouvrir les fenêtres 20 minutes le matin et le soir permettent de recycler l’air de l’appartement..
Kid: Dad, vaccines usually carry germ to train our body to build antibodies, right? In the same way, breathing polluted air could help us adapt to it.
Dad: Humm!!! This works for bacteria and virus, but not with air pollution.
Kid: What’s the difference?
Dad: Air pollutants can be considered as toxins impacting our immune system, making it vulnerable to diseases. And it can be serious.
Kid: What do you mean?
Dad: The longer you get exposed to air pollution, the weaker you get with a lot of accumulated toxins in your body. This increases the risk and could lead to cancer.
Kid: Ouch, we should all stay away from those air pollutants!!!
Dad: Simple actions can go a long way to safer and cleaner air. Open the windows of your home every morning for 20 minutes.
John: Hey Derek, thanks for inviting us to your home.
Derek: No worries, please come in, it is so cold outside!
John: Oh, it smells good, very refreshing and creates a cozy atmosphere.
Derek: Yes, that’s my wife’s favorite, lemongrass! You know, in winter we seldom open the windows to avoid losing the heat. Those essential oils bring a nice feeling inside.
John: Yes, but mold on the wooden furniture can give off some bad smell. Covering the smell will just let the mold grow and at the end make you sick!
Derek: Oops, I didn’t know it. Let’s do it now!!!!
John: And the burning could release harmful gasses (called Volatile Organic Compounds). It’s better to ventilate after burning anything at home.
Derek: Interesting! I will take the habit of ventilating a bit after burning those oils.
Tom: Oh no! Let’s close the windows and doors and boost the air purifier!
John: Hey Tom, what’s happening?
Tom: You see here, your air quality monitor is showing a VOC spike (Volatile Organic Compounds)!!!
John: Calm down Tom, it is just a spike when you are cleaning the bench with alcohol. It just lasted for 5 minutes.
Tom: It is 5 MINUTES! And it is above the RED threshold. Here it says RED means bad to health!!!
John: Relax… relax… Correct, RED means unhealthy. But similar to losing weight, it is fine when you have a cheat meal to relax a bit. What matters is the overall calorie intake! When air pollutants last for a few minutes a day, it is fine.
Tom: Does that mean those lasting for long but may be in YELLOW or ORANGE needs attention?
John: Bingo, this is the Exposure concept. Spikes and occasional events look scary. But what poses health issues to us is the exposure in the long run!
