Fresh air for life
Air
pollution is often associated with the outdoor but one should not underestimate
the effect of household pollutants. Indoor air pollution can be defined as the
characteristics of air such as physical, chemical or biological surrounding where
you are residing in your house, institution or commercial facilities. Although,
these do not seem to cause much hazard to health but in reality they actually
do. Fresh air is as much as important as clean water for sustaining life on
earth. Living in a developing urban area has not only improved our living
conditions with the onset of technological developments but also affected the
inhale of quality air.
Why
has there been so much emphasis on quality of air? A study has revealed that
indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air and definitely it will have
some severe effect on people’s health. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers
to the air quality within and around buildings and structures, especially as it
relates to the health and comfort of building occupants. So, it is important to
understand and control common pollutants of indoors to reduce the risk of
indoor health issues. Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be
experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later.
In
developing countries, approximately around 3.5 billion people are susceptible
to indoor air pollution as they completely rely on traditional fuels such as
wood, charcoal or cow dung as media for cooking or heating purposes on daily
basis. This has also raised an alarm of increasing concentration of pollutants
as a result of production of smoke which is confined to the surrounding of
house. In 1992, World Bank has placed indoor air pollution as the fourth most
global problems in the list of environmental problems especially for developing
countries.
Developed countries are not spared from the influence of household
pollution. Although the causes of air pollution are different, yet the
percentage of pollution is high. Efficient use of energy in household is a
major problem which can contribute significantly to indoor air pollution in a
way of making house airtight by curbing ventilation. The use of synthetic materials for building and
furnishing and the use of chemical products, pesticides, and household care
products have found to contribute to indoor air pollution. Smoke
from Tobacco generates a wide range of
harmful chemicals and is known to cause cancer. Biological pollutants include pollen from plants, mite, hair from pets, fungi, parasites, and
some bacteria. Most of them are allergens and can cause asthma, hay fever, and
other allergic diseases.
The
concern of World Health Organisation to air pollution can be viewed through its
publication of the first edition of Air quality guidelines for Europe in the
year 1987 containing health risk assessments of 28 chemical air contaminants.
In 2000, WHO published a second edition of the guidelines and a “global update”
was published in 2006. The second edition focused on the pollutants considered
in the first edition. The global update focused on a small group of pollutants
(particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide) The WHO air
quality guidelines have played an important role in providing information and
guidance for regulatory authorities working in the air pollution field. In
Europe, the guidelines are now seen as the key source on which the European
Commission’s directive on air quality is based.
The
working group defined the following criteria for selecting compounds for which
the development of WHO guidelines for indoor air could be recommended:
Ø existence
of indoor sources
Ø availability
of toxicological and epidemiological data
Ø indoor
levels exceeding the levels of health concern
Based
on the data, there is division of pollutant into two categories. Group 1
included pollutants for which WHO guidelines for indoor air were needed such as
benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, naphthalene, nitrogen dioxide,
particulate matter, randon, trichloroethylene. Group 2 included pollutants of
potential interest such as acetealdehyde, asbestos, glycol, ozone, hexane,
xylene, toluene.
Thus,
acceptable indoor air quality can be achieved through source control and
pollutant dispersion, and in particular through:
Ø application
of low-emission materials and products;
Ø proper
selection of the devices and fuels used for combustion indoors;
Ø the
venting of products to the outdoor air;
Ø ventilation
control
Royale Atmos is a paint that reduces harmful air pollutants
and makes the air cleaner. Additionally, it also absorbs various foul smells
& makes the air fresh. Thus, for the first time, Asian Paints presents a
paint that not only looks good, but also helps purify air and improve the air
quality inside your home.
SWETA
SARANGI
16-9-2017
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