Indoor Air Pollution and Health

by | chemicals, environmental sensitivities, health, indoor air quality, indoor environmental health, mold, mould

Indoor Air Pollution and Health

Health effects from indoor air pollutants may be experienced soon after exposure or, possibly, years later.

Immediate effects

Immediate effects may show up after a single exposure or repeated exposures. These include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Such immediate effects are usually short-term and treatable.

Sometimes the treatment is simply eliminating the person's exposure to the source of the pollution, if it can be identified.

The likelihood of immediate reactions to indoor air pollutants depends on several factors. Age and pre-existing medical conditions are two important influences. In other cases, individual sensitivity determines whether a person reacts to a pollutant. Some people can become sensitised to biological pollutants and to chemical pollutants as well.

Certain immediate effects are similar to those from colds or other viral diseases. This can make it difficult to determine if the symptoms are a result of exposure to indoor air pollution. For this reason, it is important to pay attention to the time and place symptoms occur.

If the symptoms fade when a person is away from home, an effort should be made to identify possible sources. Some effects may be made worse by an inadequate supply of fresh air. Fresh air can come from outside, heating, cooling, and ventilation systems within the home.

Long-term Effects

Other health effects may show up either years after exposure has occurred or only after repeated periods of exposure. These effects, which include some respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal. It is so important to improve the indoor air quality in your home. This is the still the case even if symptoms are mild or barely noticeable.

While pollutants commonly found in indoor air are responsible for many harmful effects, there is considerable uncertainty about what concentrations or periods of exposure are necessary to produce specific health problems. People also react very differently to exposure to indoor air pollutants.

This is where getting a professional in to assess the situation can be helpful. It is important to determine the cause and what actions can be taken to remedy the situation.

eco health solutions fresh

10 Steps You Can Take To Improve The Indoor Air Quality of Your Home

Clean the air in your home your goal by both keeping outdoor pollution out and also by increasing the ventilation within your home by ensuring a thorough exchange the air on a daily basis.

  1. Make your home a shoe-free zone
  2. Ensure your home is smoke-free
  3. If you have a leaks, drips or water damage, attend to it immediately. Anything that is wet must be completely dried out within 24 hours – if not, mould remediators may be required
  4. Keep food in sealed containers – jars, tins – whether they be in the pantry or the fridge
  5. Dispose of rubbish, recycling and compost every single day
  6. Do the laundry regularly
  7. Avoid idling your car in the driveway or garage
  8. Close the windows during peak-hour traffic
  9. Avoid using anything that is scented, particularly scented candles, reeds and air fresheners
  10. If you have gas appliances, be sure that they are flued and vented to the exterior. If you have a gas stove, use an externally vented extractor fan.

Book a Call to Resolve Your Healthy Home Issues

Perfumes – Their History

by | chemicals, diet and lifestyle, health, indoor air quality, ingredients, perfumes

The History of Perfumes

Perfumes have a long history…

Once upon a time in a land far away there lived a wise and wonderful woman.

Her name was Tapputi-Belatikallim, or Tapputi for short.

She worked within the palace with flowers, oils and balsam. Relying on her skills as a chemist, she made perfumes from these natural wonders that were available to her.

perfumes rose

Tapputi lived around 3000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Her work was referenced on a cuneiform tablet – a clay tablet into which messages were impressed or engraved. Tapputi is the world’s first recorded chemist.

Something else was happening in another land not too far away… At around the same time, there was an enormous perfume factory on the island of Cyprus. Amazingly, this factory covered 4000m2, which suggests that it was being made on a large scale.

Clearly, men and women have used perfume throughout the ages. It is also clear that there has always been a close interplay between chemistry and perfumery.

More Recently

During the first millennia, two Iraqi chemists established the perfume industry. Their names were Jābir ibn Hayyān (known as Geber) and Al-Kindi (known as Alkindus). They developed techniques that are used today. These include distillation, evaporation and filtration.

Al-Kindi extensively researched perfumes and pharmaceuticals, and wrote a book (during the 9th century). This book contained over one hundred recipes, “Book of the Chemistry of Perfume and Distillations.”

During the 14th century, a perfume was made for Queen Elizabeth of Hungary from scented oils in an alcohol solution. This became known as “Hungary Water.” During this time, it was mostly the royalty of the West that used perfumery.

As time went on, perfume became more and more popular. The perfume industry responded to this demand. This meant that they found ways to make large quantities of perfumes quickly, cheaply and without relying on crops.

Predominantly, perfumes today are made from chemicals, which are not so costly for the manufacturers and provide a reliable source.

eco health solutions health

My history of perfumes…

When I was little, Mum had a bottle of perfume that she would wear on special occasions. That single bottle, I think, lasted my whole childhood. It was precious and used to mark an event.

From a young age, I recall knowing where Mum was taking us because I could identify the smell. As a teenager, I retraced Mum’s steps and sniffed out the shop where she bought her freshly-ground coffee… An aroma that I still cherish!

Scents are strongly emotive and can cause the memories of places, thoughts, people, emotions and more, to resurface quickly.

Being blessed with an acute sense of smell, I count myself as super lucky. I have greatly enjoyed working with and blending essential oils since I was 18 years old.

I feel honoured to be using more traditional methods in my work. Using essential oils, to me, is using something as close to nature as possible. Not only the fragrance, but also the energetic qualities are captured through cold-pressing and distillation.

Now, with my allergies and sensitivities, I am grateful that I am absolutely fine with anything natural. A while back, a mere waft of a chemical fragrance and the story is very different.

In hindsight, Mum's sparing use of perfume probably kept my tolerance at a decent level… Hilariously, the only perfume that I was given, and I was 17 at the time, was “Poison”!!

Wishing you all the best of health!

(c) 26/10/12

Perfume Stinks

by | air fresheners, building biology, chemicals, endocrine disruptors, indoor air quality, perfumes, scents

They may smell nice, but perfume stinks in terms of what it is made of.

Prompted by the discovery of a list of ingredients used in perfumery on the International Fragrance Association, I felt it time to write, about the toxic chemical cocktail used in fragrances and perfumes.

Perfume – A Brief Overview

Perfumes are as old as humanity ~ in ancient times, perfumes were made from flowers and other naturally scented things, including wood (sandalwood), rind (orange), blossoms (jasmine, rose) and so on.

As technology “advanced,” (I always cringe at the idea that the industrial revolution only improved or advanced humankind), manufacturers found chemicals (esters and other aromatic compounds) that could mimic these smells.

These allowed for a cheap alternatives (although you would hardly think so when you consider the price of perfumes).

I remember in high school making smells from chemicals – banana and other sickly sweet smells that permeated our erasers, paper, pens and similar at the time.

Due to the “trade secret” aspect of perfumery, there is no need for manufacturers to list their ingredients (or potential allergens, for that matter) anywhere for the public to see.

Perfume – And It's Effects

Until now, I have felt like some eccentric spokesperson out on a limb far far away from reality, ranting and raving about the chemicals used, the toxic effects on our health, and the insanity of the inclusion of untested chemicals in our perfume and personal care products.

Added to this, there is the complete unknown consequences of using these chemicals together (known as the synergistic effect).

Rachel Carson (in “Silent Spring”) wrote about this in the 1960s.

Scientists are beginning to notice that there are changes to many species, these changes are particularly affecting the males. Male genitals are not developing normally, male are becoming “feminised.”

There is a lot that is being discovered, and a lot that is being brushed aside by the wealthy manufacturers and big businesses.

The WHO, in 2012 recognised that many chemicals contained in perfumes and other personal care products are in fact endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) – this means that they are disrupting the normal functioning of the hormone system which can have developmental, reproductive and longer-term health repercussions.

Recently, I saw this question: teen pregnancies are lower now ~ is this due to the marketing/education campaigns or the effects of the chemicals being used?

I can only guess at the answer, and no doubt, you will be able to guess at my guess.eco health solutions fresh

Perfume – Some Ingredients

But let's look at some of the chemicals used in perfume, from the list from the International Fragrance Association… and I will list the potential effects as per The Chemical Maze (Bill Statham's book).

Triethanolamine (TEA) made from ethylene oxide and ammonia

potential effects: allergic contact dermatitis; skin irritation; may react with nitrates to form nitrosamines [carcinogenic]; on NIH hazard list

Yikes! It is included in personal care products, perfumes too, that are applied to the SKIN even though it is a skin IRRITANT!

Benzyl Cinnamate

potential effects: Cinnamates can cause a stinging sensation in some people; on NIH hazard list

And another one!!

Acetal (derived from acetaldehyde)

potential effects: CNS [central nervous system] depressant; respiratory depression; cardiovascular collapse; no known skin toxicity; possible high blood pressure; on NIH hazard list

How reassuring (please excuse my tongue being firmly wedged in my cheek) that there is no skin toxicity… If my central nervous system and cardiovascular system collapse, I hardly think I would be worrying about the skin irritation…

What is ultra-scary, is that these chemicals, because they are “misted” are easily inhaled… This means that they bypass the skin and can directly enter the blood stream, and also affect the brain (hence the CNS involvement).

I won't keep going with the list. I randomly picked three… and to me, that says enough to know that at the very least CAUTION IS WARRANTED.

eco-health-solutions-house

Perfume – Why Do We Need It?

As a health care practitioner, I also have to ask: why do people need perfume???

  • Is it to mask body odour?
  • Or because their indoor air is polluted?
  • Do you smoke in the car? Why??

If it is any of these reasons, then I would be seeking to address the underlying problem: I would look into diet (including medications) and lifestyle, and probably prescribe herbs; I would suggest opening windows and increasing ventilation, and if the outside air is bad, suggest getting a decent air purifier; I would explore why they smoke and assist them with quitting, if they were ready…

A Word on Air Fresheners

Did you also know that “air fresheners” do three things: they inhibit your ability to smell properly, they coat everything with a layer of scent held there with phthalates and they add a synthetic fragrance.

What this means, is that the problem isn't addressed – and as such, they are hardly freshening the air.

The smell is still there, but –

  1. You can't smell it properly,
  2. Your nasal passages, skin, clothing and hair are all coated with fragrance and phthalates, and
  3. There is now an abundance of chemicals in your home ~ adversely affecting the indoor air quality.

Please think before using a synthetic fragrance of any kind…

And, if you need further advice please get in touch.

Contact Us

References:

#perfume #fragrance #chemicalsandhealth
(c) 3/2/12, rev 11/2/16