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Surgeon General calls for healthy indoor air quality at home
2009-07-02
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Physician, nursing, patient, and engineering groups all embrace healthy indoor air quality at home as a first key step in prevention and management of many diseases. The U.S. Surgeon General has joined. On June 9, 2009, Acting Surgeon General Steven Galson issued a call to action to generate healthy indoor air quality in all homes.
The Surgeon General is the head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the U.S. government.
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The call to action was prompted by multiple research studies demonstrating improved health outcomes with policies targeting indoor air quality at home.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the air indoors at home is frequently up to 100 times more polluted than even the worst outdoor air. According to the California Environmental Protection Agency, adults spend more than 60% of each indoors at home breathing polluted air. More than 70% for children. 50% of human illness is caused or aggravated by polluted indoor air, primarily from the home.
The Surgeon General makes four recommendations.
First, maintain a smoke free home. Give up smoking, and also implement a no smoking policy indoors at home. An estimated 38,000 lung cancer and heart disease deaths, and chronic respiratory disease in the U.S. is attributed each year to exposure to second hand smoke, primarily in the home. 126 million U.S. children 3 years and older are exposed.
Second, engage carbon monoxide poisoning prevention in the home. Remove or replace carbon monoxide home sources. Install and maintain detectors. Carbon monoxide exposure indoors at home is annually responsible in the U.S. for more than 280 deaths and 9,000 emergency room visits.
Third, implement a home radon barrier in high radon areas of the country. Radon migration from the soil to the interior of a home can be effectively mitigated using a soil depressurization system. 6% of the more than 110 million U.S. homes are radon polluted. It is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers, causing up to 21,000 lung cancer deaths annually in the U.S.
Fourth, generate allergen and irritant safe airflow in all homes. Indoor allergen avoidance involves an allergen assessment of the home, followed by allergen remediation, and installation and use of airborne allergen and irritant suppression technologies. Allergic asthma, hay fever, and eczema are respiratory diseases caused or aggravated by exposures to airborne allergens and irritants, principally indoors at home. Over 38 million Americans are afflicted. Annually this causes in the U.S. more than 5,000 deaths, 2 million emergency room visits, 20 million physician visits, and $20 billion in medical costs, lost productivity, and reduced quality of life.
The Surgeon General’s advice is medically and scientifically validated. Consult with a physician allergist or licensed professional environmental or mechanical engineer specializing in indoor air quality to determine how to best implement these recommendations for your home. Your health and the health of those you live with may very well depend on it.
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Source: Examiner.com
Author: Frank Hagie
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