News & Facts

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News & Facts

Points of interest:

• 50% of all illnesses are either caused or aggravated by polluted indoor air.

• Nine out of ten system failures are caused by dirt and dust.

• Most people spend 60-90% of their time indoors.

• Children are more likely than adults to be affected by polluted air; they breathe faster, inhale more air per unit of body weight and are closer to the ground where concentrations are higher.

• Most commercially purchased fiberglass filters are only 7% efficient in stopping dirt, dust, pollen, etc. from passing through.

Facts

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), during September 1990 declared, "indoor air pollution as one of the top four environmental threats facing the country".

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), during 1989, found that "health threatening volatile organic compounds can be found in concentrations 100 times higher in enclosed spaces than outdoors. Even if a building is next to a major outdoor pollution source, the levels of pollution inside the building will be two to five times higher indoors than outdoors."

• The Consumer Product Safety Commission, "estimates that the problem costs the country as much as $100 billion a year in medical costs and lost days at work".

• The National Safe Workplace Institute, (article: "Beyond Neglect: The Problem of Occupational Disease in the U.S."), claims 71,42S people died from occupational diseases in 1987. Occupational disease clearly is a much larger cause of preventable death than motor vehicle accidents, homicide, AIDS, drowning, fires, commercial airline accidents, and storms. Ventilation systems in modern office buildings were blamed for up to half of all occupational illnesses. Energy-efficient ventilation systems take in only limited amounts of fresh air. As a result, old air is continually recirculated, causing a buildup of cold germs, cigarette smoke and substances emitted from copier machines, furniture and carpeting (such as ozone, benzene, styrene and formaldehyde)."

• The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Special Legislative Commission on indoor air pollutions, April, 1989 found that 20% of all office workers in tightly constructed building have shown symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) or Tight Building Syndrome (TBS).

• The Wall Street Journal, October 9,1989 wrote: "As Scientists hone in on their ability to determine what levels of contamination make people sick, lawsuits are expected to grow sharply. In December 1986, South Florida Savings Bank moved from a new building after employees complained of nausea, chest pains and fatigue. If it had been established later that the employee' illnesses were building related, the thrift might have been held liable".

• USA Today, August 23, 1990 wrote "Asthma, dust mites are linked".

• The Boston Globe, May 14, 1989 quotes an official of the Harvard School of Public Health; "Of course, indoor pollution is the largest public health problem we have, some people say it's responsible for as high as 60 to 70 percent of all illness." "The real solution to indoor air pollution is getting rid of the sources".

• Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News, May 11, 1987, wrote: "consultant says air ducts have more germs that a chicken coop."