Indoor Air Quality




For my topic, I am looking at the impact of indoor air quality on health. On average, Americans spend more than 65% of their time indoors. Some homes have been shown to have lower air quality than health-based standards for acute and chronic exposures.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the primary enforcer of air quality. They have guidelines and standards on everything from asbestos to mold. But the U.S. EPA and the California Environmental Protection Agency have (CalEPA) have released standards to long-term exposure to reduce cancer and non-cancer related illnesses.  Each state also has a regional office, that is responsible for carrying out the agency's programs relating to indoor air quality.

The main framework to protect air quality at the national, state and local level is outlined in The Clean Air Act.



Comments

  1. Jordan DemosOctober 11, 2018 at 6:52 PM

    Hi Stacey,

    I really like your choice of topic. Indoor Air quality isn't something I would have thought of, or even thought of as a concern. Your point about amount of time we spend inside the home is true, which makes your topic even more important. What are some things that contribute to poorer indoor air quality, and what are some regulations that can be put in place to ensure better air quality?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 11, 2018 at 9:58 PM

    Hi Stacey,

    I have been so sick in the last few years and I honestly believe its because of my lifestyle. I spend about 10 hours idly, first few hours in the car driving to work, then eight and half hours at work in an office where I don't have any fresh air. I work in a cubicle and the only office next to my cubicle, the coworkers in there leaves his door closed - so no fresh air.

    Your post really made me rethink my whole lifestyle. I really need to reconsider my choices of being a job where I sit infront of a computer in a coped up space five days a week!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Final Blog

I thoroughly enjoyed the material in this class, since most of it was information I was not aware of.  Most of it was difficult to believe because of the vastness of some problems and knowing that not more has been done to remedy them. The amount of pesticides used on produce and its effect on our bodies and planet was a big takeaway for me. And along with that, the number of chemicals used in products is also concerning. It has made me much more aware of what I buy and what its impacts are, like buying used clothes now, and if I really want new things to try to buy sustainable/fair trade. I also just discovered an alternative to plastic wrap! What I've learned has really helped me take some small steps. The blogging experience was different and I liked being able to write in a more casual style. I also enjoyed reading the other group members' comments on the material. It made the online experience feel more like a classroom and held me accountable to finishing the material...
Read more

Personal Care Products

I reviewed the following products:  - Avalon Organics nourishing lavender shampoo  - Shea Moisture raw shea butter body lotion I was somewhat surprised that my shampoo had some chemicals in it that had developmental and reproductive toxicity and also a moderate amount that affected allergies and immunotoxicity. But what I did not expect was to see ingredients that I thought were healthy, listed as concerns. For example aloe barbadensis leaf juice, also known as aloe vera gel, had developmental and reproductivity, and cancer concerns. I clicked on the link and found that it had these potential effects only if it was non-decolorized. As I was not exactly sure what that meant, I looked at a few other sites and found that it was considered safe. Also, in the body lotion there was an ingredient called "essential oil blend" that I never would have thought would be of concern, but the site gave it a moderate hazard score. The two products reviewed both seem relatively safe b...
Read more

Agency's Role

I looked at the National Institute of Health and their role in protecting the environment. They are part of the Department of Health and Human Services and help prevent and protect against illness. It is very wide-reaching in that they perform research, implement health interventions and develop tools that improve health. They focus on things like chronic diseases and infectious diseases, and have developed things like vaccines and new therapies to address them. One area I found interesting was their categorization of depression as a chronic disease. They identified it as a disorder to the brain and showed how they have technologies like brain scans to show this. But, even though so many people suffer from depression, I'm not sure the awareness and accessibility to therapies and brain scans are as available as they could be.
Read more